Looking for a few new tools and resources to inspire your writing life? Look no further!

Creators around the web are sharing fantastic Black Friday deals on writing workbooks, e-courses, apps, and other tools designed specifically with writers in mind. Today, I’m excited to share my favorite deals for fiction writers, including sales on our resources here at Well-Storied. Take a peek:

Wish you could crank out your stories more quickly? You aren’t alone.

Run a quick Google search for “how to write faster,” and you’ll find hundreds of blog posts detailing writing productivity hacks ranging from disabling your internet connection to dictating your first draft, practicing your typing speed, and writing while groggy to smother your inner critic.

These tips may prove helpful for some (or even many) writers, but the hack-centered conversation around writing productivity often fails to account for the full complexity of this topic — and in doing so, fosters an unhealthy approach to getting words on the page more quickly.

Subplots are more than just a secondary plotline in a story; They're secondary conflicts that arise from characters’ actions & reactions as they engage with the story’s central conflict.

What types of subplots exist, how can these secondary plotlines lend depth to your story, and most importantly, how can you craft effective subplots all your own?

Editing can undo even the greatest writers. While the creative spirit flies high for writers during the drafting stage, many find editing to be boring and tedious. Some even skip the process altogether.

Unfortunately, there’s no way around the fact that editing is, for most, nowhere near as fun as the free sprint of a first draft. However, if you want to finish, pitch, and sell your story, then you must accept that your manuscript will need to undergo multiple types of editing, including development, line-, and copy-editing. A final proofread is also essential to identify any remaining grammar and style mistakes in the text.

You know the feeling. The seed of a story idea springs to life in your mind, and a wild sort of creative energy courses through you — a creative high that has you itching to dive headfirst into this exciting new project, to nurture the seed of your idea into a full-grown story.

Shiny new story ideas can come in all shapes and sizes: an outline of a character, the flash of a scintillating scene, a setting or theme you’d to explore. Maybe you’ve even thought up a fun way to twist an old trope or to blend two existing stories you love.

Whatever their nature, shiny new story ideas are doubtless tempting to pursue. The only issue? Some story ideas simply aren’t worth developing.

Are you struggling to finish your first draft, lost in an aimless middle act or lackluster conclusion? Is your manuscript worrisomely bland, lacking a strong narrative thread to draw readers from Point A to Point B? Writer, it’s time to rev up your story’s narrative engine…

The surest way to drive your plot forward is to arm your characters with goals they’re motivated to achieve. Pit your characters’ goals against one another (or against their internal needs), and you’ll create deliciously engaging conflict that keeps readers turning pages.

But how does one develop goals that effectively serve their characters and story? Is it even necessary to give every character a goal, for that matter? Let’s delve into this topic together, writer.

As writers, holding our work to high standards can help us craft sensational stories. But when those high standards aren’t accompanied by a healthy creative mindset, the seeds of perfectionism can take root. Why is this so dangerous?

Themes are an integral part of any good story. Yet many genre fiction writers fail to consider their story’s themes, believing they have no place beyond literary novels — or worse yet, that authors who actively explore themes in their stories do so to preach to readers.

These harmful misconceptions hinder writers’ efforts to produce effective and engaging stories.

Themes are present in all forms of fiction. More importantly, when handled with care, themes lend purpose and meaning to the stories we tell. To fail to develop our stories’ themes with intention is to risk undermining their ability to engage and compel readers.

As a new writer, I had no idea how to approach the novel revision process. I had only ever revised short stories and academic papers before. Revising a long-form piece was a much larger task that required more moving parts and careful observation.

I took to the Internet in search of revision advice, but to my surprise, there wasn’t much detailed information available for new authors to learn from. Through a few limited resources and a lot of effort, I managed to work out a fairly good procedure that I want to share with you today in the hopes of shedding some light on the revision process for new writers.

While writing a book can be challenging, many writers find promoting themselves and their work to be far more overwhelming. Just the thought of marketing is often enough to make many writers want to put a blanket over their heads. It can easily become many writers’ least favorite tasks.

But what if I told you there’s a way to actually enjoy marketing your books? It’s true!

The secret lies in a mindset shift. Instead of thinking of marketing as an icky way to beg people to buy your books, think of it in terms of one of your favorite things to do: writing a story.

As writers, we tend to roll our eyes when we catch common tropes in literature. Popular writing advice teaches that tropes are bad and that writers should avoid them at all costs. For the most part, this is true. However, there are ways to reinvent old tropes that can breath fresh life into our stories.

But what is a trope, exactly? Great question!

A trope can be defined as a significant or recurrent theme in literature. Writers are often warned against using common tropes because they can weigh a story down, filling them with predictable and unimaginative elements that feel unprofessional (or even lazy), ultimately diminishing readers’ enjoyment of your work.

To give evidence to this assertion, let’s take a look at a few common character tropes…

While reading, we become active participants in a point-of-view character’s journey (seriously, our brains become the character). This means that when characters undergo a deep journey of change, we do too. Character arcs are the method through which authors move hearts, change minds, and influence the world.