TIPS FOR WRITERS

If you want to be a writer, do three things. Write, read, and learn about writing.

I have a blog dedicated to helping teenage authors learn to write. But the rules are the same no matter how old you are. So there is a lot of good information over there about craft, publication, and marketing. Here is the link: Teenage Authors.

Since I’m a visual learner, I love to post examples. I have some fun things posted under “Examples” and under “Helps” on my Teenage Author site. But here are a few of my favorites. I hope some of these are helpful.

Magazine Articles
–Cover letter for a magazine article (sold to Brio & Beyond in 2006)
–Same cover letter for a magazine article, formatted for email
–Actual magazine article that sold to Brio & Beyond

Short Stories
–Cover letter and short story for a magazine (sold to Shine Brightly in )
–Final layout of short story in Shine Brightly

Novels
–Cover letter to Jeff Gerke for YA fantasy novel By Darkness Hid (sold to Marcher Lord Press in 2008)
–Synopsis (partial) for By Darkness Hid 

One Sheets for Novels
–One Sheet for YA novel The New Recruit
–Trilogy one Sheet for what became Replication: The Jason Experiement (sold to Zonderkidz in 2010)

Jill’s YouTube Video Tutorials
–Pitching my novel: What I should have done: Replication
–Formatting a Manuscript, Part 1: Page Set Up and Text
–Formatting a Manuscript, Part 2: Page Breaks
–Formatting a Manuscript, Part 3: Paragraphs
–Formatting a Manuscript, Part 4: Cleaning things up
–Formatting a Manuscript, Part 5: Page Numbers
–Formatting Your Manuscript for Amazon Kindle–PART 1
–Using Mobipocket to Format Your Book For Kindle–PART 2
–Uploading Your Novel to Amazon Digital Text Platform for Kindle–PART 3

Also, I highly recommend the links below to help you learn. The one that helped me the most when I was starting out is Randy Ingermanson. The man is a genius at teaching others what he knows. I’ve taken both his Fiction 101 and Fiction 201 courses and I highly recommend them.

Other ways to learn are by going to writer’s conferences and reading writing related books. I have included some links below.

Sites to Learn From
Randy Ingermanson: http://www.ingermanson.com/
Where the Map Ends:  http://www.wherethemapends.com/main.htm
Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent: http://www.rachellegardner.com/

Writing Craft Books
Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell
Getting Into Character by Brandilyn Collins
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
Stein on Writing by Sol Stein
Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain
Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass

Grammar and Punctuation Resources
The Chicago Manual of Style
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White 

Conferences
American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW)
Blue Ridge Mountains
CLASS Christian Writers Conference
Mount Hermon
NextGen Online Writers Conference (for writers 20 and under)
NYC Pitch and Shop Writers’ Conference
Oregon Christian Writers Summer Coaching Conference
Romance Writers of America
Santa Fe Writer’s Conference
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)
Sothern California Writers’ Conference
Writers in Paradise
Writing for the Soul