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best fiction writing tips

The Biggest Lie Fiction Writers Tell Themselves to Self-Sabotage Their Writing Goals

Both writers of fiction and nonfiction run into roadblocks with their writing, that’s not surprising. However, there is a very specific block that seems to especially plague fiction writers. Usually, it happens before the writer has even started writing their story, but it’s also very common for this to occur once the writer is about one third or halfway through the project.

This writing block is rooted in a lie that the writer tells themselves that they don’t even know is a lie—and they don’t know it’s a lie because so many mainstream writing guides and sources of writing advice online tell them that they have to do this same thing too. So, when they can’t do it, or they run into severe difficulties with it, they immediately blame themselves and go into creative shut-down. Continue Reading

Seven Sinful Writing Tips for Transgressive Fiction Authors.

Today’s guest post comes from the satirical G.C. McKay, author of the anthology Sauced up, Scarred and at Sleaze  and his recently released novel, Fubar. G.C. is one of my favorite writer friends because he always pushes limits and questions the status quo. Plus, he manages to be totally irreverent and profound at the same time. The following is his take on the writing “rules” for transgressive fiction authors.

Transgressive fiction gets a pretty raw deal. In fact, it gets the same treatment by the world we live in as its characters often do inside their stories. This is probably to be expected, as the themes it explores are normally on the, shall we say, darker side of the human spectrum. Whilst we can argue till our faces turn blue (sexual-innuendo obviously implied) about what actually defines transgressive fiction, I’d venture to guess that we can all agree that it… unnerves us, as Lauren Sapala so adequately put it in her post Why are so Many Writers Afraid of Transgressive Fiction?

On that note, here are seven sin-ridden writing tips to keep in mind when your gunk-filled fingernails sit poised over the keyboard: Continue Reading