M. Lori Motley

For all but the most successful novelists, editing can be a long and arduous process. It can take quite a few passes to complete to satisfaction. A good first step is to purge obvious no-nos from your novel.

Getting your short story accepted in a magazine is a thrill in itself. It is hard to do and takes a lot of dedication, research, and time. When you finally do get your story accepted, it is clear you have a winner.

Writers are often solitary creatures, sitting in dimly lit bedrooms or trendy cafes and typing away on laptops and computers. But maintaining total solitude can prevent your writing skills from improving, and can definitely put a damper on your career.

Fairies, or fae folk, are one of the staples of the fantasy genre. Although they populate classic fairy tales more often than fantasy novels, fairies still have a place in modern fiction.

Who wants to read a story that starts with the birth of the main character and follows them through their entire life? This method of fiction writing is hardly ever successful.

As November and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) draws to a close, novel writers may begin to feel confusion over what happens next. Your choice will depend largely on your writing goals.

Choosing names for fiction characters challenges writers in many ways. Perusing baby name books or websites, the writer strives to pick out a name that both sounds good and means something.

The fantasy fiction trilogy is becoming more and more popular in the genre. Series of three or more books dominate the marketplace and succeed in brining fantasy fiction to fan

NaNoWriMo is a time when tens of thousands of writers write 50,000 word novels. Some writers have been there for multiple years, but there are always plenty of newbie writers who are nervous and confused.

Self promotion is as important to fiction writers as it is to any other business person. Unless you have sold your soul to the muses and have attracted the attention of a world-class agent with a publicist in his back pocket, you will have to promote your fiction.

Fan clubs happen wherever a character or personality catches the public's interest. Fiction characters such as Harry Potter have many fan clubs where people talk about the character, pretend to be the character, and write fan fiction about the character.

Finding the right market to submit your short story to requires several kinds of research. To increase your chances of being accepted and published, you must submit to the right short story market.

Many fiction writers create characters from bits of memory and imagination. Another great way to craft believable characters is through the fiction writer's art of people watching.

What is it that makes people want to share their ideas with writers? A large part seems to be a person's own quest for immortality.

In elementary school, you learned about adverbs. These words, usually ending in 'ly,' are used to modify verbs. Adverbs modify your verbs because your verbs are weak.

Writers of fiction books often see the title of "Published Author" to be the apex of all accomplishments. Indeed, once your fiction book is published, you will probably have a publisher, agent, or marketing executive pushing your books to bookstore buyers and the like.

Horror is one of the most popular genres of fiction today. People are clamoring for horror at the box office and on the bookshelves. Fiction writers strive to deliver.

Fantasy writers create new worlds, and new people. Creating a fantasy language adds verisimilitude in fiction, something that fans crave. If you are a fantasy fiction writer, you will not be wasting your time creating a fantasy language for your chosen race of beings.

Designing new creatures is one of the great joys of fantasy fiction writing. Not only is it fun, but it adds a distinct flavor of realism to your fantasy world that cannot be gotten with the same old, every-day animals that populate reality.

In the absence of muse, a fiction writer's craft must go on. Muses are proud creatures and, if ignored or harangued for too long, they may not come back at all. Sometimes, you have to keep your creativity pumping all on your own.

What are your writing goals? Many fiction writers would simply answer, "to be published." But, since publication is the ultimate goal, you have to come up with a plan to achieve it.

Rejection is a part of every fiction writer's life. If a whiff of rejection is likely to send you into paroxysms of self-pity and despair, fiction writing may not be the thing for you.

Fiction writers often complain about not being able to come up with a great new story idea. Writer's block is often a result. If no idea bursts forth from their personal muse, they will not be able to write anything at all.