“Go crazy! Go nuts! Build your ideal world with every fantastical idea you can imagine. Then compare it to other books in your genre and scale it back. Balance your author soul with reader desires.”

Celia Kyle​​ NY Times & USA TODAY Bestselling Author and Owner of Read, Write, Hustle

“Pay as much attention to your character’s actions as their words. You can create complexity and intrigue by having them say one thing and do another.”

April Aasheim USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“Your rough draft is a giant slab of rough stone that you’ve just begun to whittle. Your final draft is a beautiful marble statue. 

In between these two phases, you will want to throw your computer at the wall. That’s okay.”

Carina Wilder NY Times & USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“ABC’s – Apply Butt to Chair. It is the discipline to finish more than anything that makes a project happen.”

Candice Gilmer NY Times & USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“An ounce of prep work goes a long way. Spending a little time upfront can save you a lot of headache down the road.”

Mandy M. Roth​ NY Times & USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“Don’t genre hop. Find something that works and stick with it.”

Cara Bristol USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“Loved ones, knowing I’m a writer, will often send me links to any articles or posts or headlines they find strange or interesting. This is one fun way they can participate in my awesome career.”

Cynthia Sax USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“Research, research, research. In world building, the devil (or God) is in the details, even those details you don’t put on the page. The wonders of your book world are made more so by the small trappings of the mundane.”

Grace Draven USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“Dedicate as much time as possible to studying craft. […] Join writer’s groups and find critique partners. Do NOT ask successful authors to hand feed you. If you can’t research, you can’t write a novel. Set daily word count goals. The mind is lazy and needs to be trained to work creatively just as the body needs to be trained to exercise.”

Jana DeLeon NY Times, Wall Street Journal & USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“You’ll be fine as long as you love writing enough to do it even when you hate it. Which is 90% of the time. The good news is that the other 10% of the time when everything clicks it is freaking magic.” 

Renee George​ USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“Don’t suffer from comparisonitis by holding up your beginning efforts against a veteran author’s career. Work hard today, work harder tomorrow, and enjoy the journey. This creative calling is not a sprint.”

Aria Bancroft Fantasy Author

“Be consistent, and don’t box yourself into world rules too much in the beginning. Let them grow over the series.” 

Yasmine Galenorn Publishers Weekly, NY Times & USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“Done is better than perfect! In other words, just write the first draft – go ahead and let it out! Trust yourself (and your editor) to improve the next draft, but don’t let a quest for perfection stop you from writing at all.”

Tasha Black USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“Keep your childlike sense of wonder and imagination and absolutely anything can become a story idea.”

Evangeline Anderson USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“In worldbuilding don’t detail everything out, paint broad strokes when you start, that way you can let it grow naturally.”

Miranda Martin​ Bestselling Science Fiction Author

“Read more than you write.”

Scarlett Dawn NY Times & USA TODAY Bestselling Author

“I love to take two ordinary ideas to create something extraordinary. For example: Pandora’s box + blame men = Lords of the Underworld. 
​I use this method with characters too. If a power or weapon has a positive, it also has to have a negative. For example: possessed by a demon that makes the warrior stronger…but also comes with a specific curse, like pain for telling the truth because he is possessed by lies.”

Scarlett Dawn NY Times & USA TODAY Bestselling Author