How To Write – Liana Brooks

Archive by category "How To Write"

“Why do you____?” …. Because It Matters

One of those questions that always throws me is, “Why do you care about THAT? You don’t need to know that for your job.” As if curiosity and learning aren’t their own reward. Usually I let it slide with an eye roll. I don’t have time to lecture every random…

WRITER CRAFT WEDNESDAY: How To Write Yourself An Editing Letter

Editing Letters… they are often the most beautiful and intimidating part of working with an editor. An editing letter exposes the soul of your book. It looks at all the weak points, highlights the flaws, and flails your ego with all the things that went terribly wrong. A good editing…

WRITER CRAFT WEDNESDAY: How Do I Start Editing My Book?

No matter where you are in your editing career you need to know how to edit yourself. For the month of March the Writer Craft Wednesday posts will all be centered on how to edit your own work. Keep in mind that these are guidelines that have worked for me,…

MONDAYS IN PUBLISHING – A Series or Book Bible

I’m writing this post with the hope that I can save some sweet, soon-to-be published author a headache because I didn’t know about this before I published. When I was first published I thought it was my job to write a story and – if a second book came along…

Know When It’s Time To Walk Away

I’ve always been a big believer in writing regularly. Good habits are hard to make, and keeping a regular writing schedule helps an author in the long run. However, as the years have passed, I’ve veered away from the Write Every Day! camp towards the idea of Think Every Day….

Fancasts as Writing Tools

Fancasting… it’s often see as something writers do to avoid actually writing. It’s treated like a stall tactic. But, if you want a diverse cast and want diversity in your books, it’s actually good way to get a headcount of what diversity is available. The fancast above is for my…

The Path To Failure

I have another secret to share, come here. Closer… closer… STOP! Right there. Look around. Do you see everything around you? This, my friend, is the path to failure. This is where dreams are broken. This is where it all falls apart. We call it life, sometimes adulthood, but what…

There Are Three Rules To Writing A Novel…

… and no one knows what they are. Or so says the infamous quote seen on mugs and hats everywhere people want to make money off of frustrated authors. I’m not saying these are the missing three rules, but they’re my best guess for the time being. 1- Write it…

Finding Your Strengths

All writers are not created equal. Some are gifted at world building, others excel at pacing, some write witty dialog without breaking a sweat (looking at you, Whedon). Whatever your skill, you should identify it and make the most of it? Why? Let’s pretend that your greatest strength is dialog….

How To Be A Good Critique Partner (reprint)

Critique groups abound, especially as NaNoWriMo wraps up. The crisp, cold weather of winter combined with the frenzy of writing a novel in a month spawns writing groups like there is no tomorrow. New writing groups are wonderful, but not all critique partners are created equal. The horror stories about…