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On Writing Techniques: A Guide for Writers Everywhere
As you may know, I’ve spent the better part of this year trying to figure out how to edit my manuscript. That’s high-key why I’ve been talking about writing a book a lot. Because I’m living it, and it’s been…a journey (to put it lightly). And here’s what I’ve learned: no matter how brilliant your plot is, if you can’t execute it well, it falls flat. The difference between a story that keeps you up at night and one you abandon on page 50? Writing techniques. When you read a book that pulls you in completely—where you forget you’re reading words on a page—that’s not magic. It’s the result of…
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How to Set Your Goals When You Don’t Know What You Want
My youngest sister recently graduated over the summer; I wrote a blog for study tips for her if you’re interested. And since her graduation, we’ve been having a lot of conversations about what she wants to do next. She’s enrolled in grad school now, but she keeps coming back to the same question: what am I actually working towards? And honestly? I get it. Because here’s the thing—we live in a world obsessed with goals. Set your intentions. Manifest your dreams. Make a five-year plan. But nobody’s talking about what happens when you can’t even figure out what you want in the first place. You’re not lazy. You’re not unmotivated.…
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How to Write Fantasy
I’ll be honest, I’m not a fantasy reader. Apart from the classics, I don’t really have any fantasy books I’m into right now, and I think that might have to do with the fact that I feel like a lot of modern ‘fantasy’ books always have a more dominant subgenre that people seem to gush about. Yeah, I know. It’s a bit snobby, but that’s my vibe around. I feel the same about science fiction too, by the way. In my opinion, a lot of sci-fis these days are just meh. It’s hard to find a good one. And I guess these feelings around these two genres come from the…
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Book Talk: What I Read in November
November’s been quite happening if I do say so myself. Between school and a dramatic Black Friday at work, I feel like I’ve been tethering at the edge of glory. Or madness. And yeah, this analogy is the direct result of a few books I’ve been reading this month. But also because of my general romanticisation of the coming winter. And let me tell you, it’s been cold but not nearly as cold as I want it to be. I want the winds to beat against the floor length windows wrapping three quarters of my apartment. The fog to make it impossible for me to see if the bus approaching…
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Does the Muse Really Call? Thoughts from a Writer Who Hasn’t Written Much This Year
So, I don’t know about you but this year—writing wise wasn’t the best. Now, I know you’d be confused about this because, well, I’ve been updating this blog weirdly regularly for nearly eleven months now. But, to be honest with you, that’s like child’s play for me. I can easily churn out a blog a week. Seriously, it’s not that hard. What’s hard is actually coming up with the topic and doing SEO research and all, and I actually did all that in the beginning of the new quarter. So, yeah. Blogging-wise this year’s been pretty great. But when it comes to my writing? Not really. In fact, it’s actually…
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How to Write Dystopian Fiction
Dystopian fiction is, without a doubt, an amazing genre. It’s not the kind I pick all the time because it’s so easy to mess it up (I’m looking at you, Divergent). But when I do read dystopian books, they quickly end up becoming my favourite books of all time. A classic example of a dystopian story is, of course, 1984 by George Orwell. It’s hands down one of my favourite books of all time, second only to The Alchemist. There’s a lot of science fiction overlap with this genre too. In fact, I’d argue that the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series by Cixin Liu kind of becomes dystopian, especially as…
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How to Develop a Magic System in Fiction
Let’s be honest: one of the most fun parts of a fantasy book is the introduction of magic. Seriously, if your story’s blurb has an intriguing magic system, I’m reading it. That’s how I wound up picking up Air Awakens at the beginning of the year. Sure, I abandoned the series because of how quickly the world and plot disintegrated, but I stuck around for three books because the magic system was so good. But that’s the thing about magic systems, isn’t it? It can drive your entire plot if it’s good. Of course, your story shouldn’t solely depend on it but that’s how critical a magic system can be.…
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How to Write & Outline a Book Series
I grew up reading a lot of book series. In fact, the very books I read, the Oxford Reading Tree series, were—cue the drum roll—a series. So was the Mallory Towers series and the wizarding world series I read (which we don’t talk about here because the author’s unhinged) well into my teens. It’s safe to say that book series have dominated a large part of my reading list. And I bet it’s the same for a lot of you. We could talk about book series all day—maybe weeks, actually. There’s the Hunger Games, Twilight, A Song of Ice and Fire, Percy Jackson, Bridgerton, Shatter Me, and so many others.…
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How to Elevate Your Content in 5 Proven Ways
So, after my last blog on how to optimize your blog posts, I thought that the next logical topic would be on how to elevate your content. Because let’s be real: in the era of massive AI-generated blogs, you need to find a way to make your content stand out. When the dust settles on AI, we’re going to be seeing a rise in more authentic voices, and the sooner you get your content to be as unique and true to your voice and brand as possible, the sooner you’ll be able to shine. But how do you do this? Especially, if you’re new in the space and want to…
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Book Talk: What I Read in October
Guess who’s read 50 books this year? This writer. Seriously, I opened Goodreads this morning and saw the banner and that’s pretty cool actually. I’d initially set my target for forty-two books, aimed at reading a book a week, but I upgraded it to 62. So, pretty close. Next year, I’ll aim for 75. Now, I’ll admit that this is pretty low for me. In the past, I’ve read upwards of a hundred books a year. In fact, during my teens—at one point in time—I read at least a book a day. But in my old age (of twenty-seven), between work and school now it seems, I have to actively…