I’m sure you’ve all heard the advice: kill your darlings, cut ruthlessly, make every word count. We all know that we’re supposed to eliminate anything in our novels that doesn’t move the plot forward or teach us something about a character, but it can be hard to know w...

Think of the characters from your current work in progress. Are they all women (or men)? Do they all have blond hair? Did they all get a BA in English literature from an Ivy League university? Of course not. A book where every character was exactly the same would be bo...

In order for a book to be great, two things are required: great writing and great storytelling. You’re not alone if you are asking, “Aren’t those things the same?” While they certainly go hand in hand, they are two distinctly different skills, and chances are you are b...