Discover an empowering process for requesting writing feedback, receiving it with grace, and implementing it to unlock your full writing potential. 

By Julie Tyler Ruiz

CONTENTS:

• How to ask for feedback
• How to receive feedback with grace
• How to implement feedback with confidence 

Requesting writing feedback is unique opportunity to gather diverse responses to your work-in-progress, find out what inspires people, and discover opportunities to develop your work further. A good critique partner, editor, or book coach can help you peer into your blind spots and uncover the hidden potential in your writing.

There's no thrill quite like finding out what someone has to say about your writing. To navigate this moment with ease, you have to be vulnerable and humble, adopt a growth mindset, and remain open to both praise and constructive suggestions.

Hear from a member of my writing community, the Author Exchange: "Receiving feedback about my writing has helped me level up as an au...

Explore the craft of giving writing feedback and how this process can elevate your writing and the work of others. 

By Julie Tyler Ruiz

CONTENTS:

• What is writing feedback?
• What are the benefits of giving feedback?
• Elements of a good writing critique 
• How to give writing feedback: 7 steps
• Love giving feedback? Here's how to do it more often 

What is writing feedback?

Writing feedback is the art and craft of reviewing a written work-in-progress (WIP) to identify what works and what doesn't and then delivering your impressions in a way that helps the author improve their work. As we'll explore in more detail, writing feedback can take the form of verbal or written commentary addressing a WIP's strengths and areas for improvement. For example, when reviewing a piece of creative writing, such as a novel or short story, you might praise the author's compelling cast of characters, while alerting the author to plot points that need development. 

Critique vs Feedback: These term

...

Discover a simple process for outlining a novel, explore popular outlining tools, and get additional outlining tips to use throughout your writing journey.  

By Julie Tyler Ruiz

CONTENTS:

• What is an outline?
• How to outline a novel: 5 steps
• Additional tips for outlining a novel

What is an outline?

An outline is a document that describes and organizes all the components of a writing project. For writing a novel, an outline would show the framework of the plot and the events in chronological order. 

The main purpose of a novel outline is to streamline the work you do to write a book-length story. In the early stages of the process, an outline can help orient you to the storyline. Who are the characters and what is their predicament? Later in the process, you can use an outline to refine and tighten the plot. Where do you see opportunities to add or delete scenes, improve the pacing, or put characters in more dynamic situations?

As we'll explore in this article, there are diff...

Is writing a novel outline for you? Review the purpose and benefits of an outline, as well as common challenges and frustrations writers experience, to decide. 

By Julie Tyler Ruiz

In going about the process of writing a novel, you come to a point when it's time to consider creating an outline. How do you write one? Should you create one? Do you need one? Will it actually help? How far can you get without one?

The answers to these questions aren't always straightforward. We all take different approaches to writing a novel. We all think differently. And we all draw upon different gifts and abilities to tell stories. For example:

• Planners take a meticulous approach, using the early phases of a project to research their topic, explore ideas, and discover possibilities before committing actual scenes to paper. They write detailed outlines, character profiles, and other documents to guide their process. 
• Pantsers take a more relaxed and spontaneous approach. Preferring to "fly by the
...

Discover the truth about writing a novel in 2024, the most effective strategies for developing a solid first draft, and tips for novel writing success. 

By Julie Tyler Ruiz

Novel writing process: what you should know in 2024

Writing a novel offers many rewards. By going through the process, you build important writing skills and see yourself in a new light, as someone with the vision and stamina to complete a large project. When you reach the end of the process, you get to see your work in print and offer readers an engaging reading experience.  

Now that you're at the outset of your novel project, you have the opportunity to take ownership of the entire process, every word, every sentence, and write from your heart and soul. This endeavor is especially important in the age of AI, a watershed moment for all content creators, when tools like ChatGPT and Copilot can generate pages of text on command. As a storyteller, your job is to create what AI cannot, an original novel inspired b...

Discover the transformative power of creative writing prompts for every stage of your writing journey. 

By Julie Tyler Ruiz

What is a writing prompt? 

A writing prompt is an exercise or set of instructions that a writer uses to gain a fresh perspective, develop writing skills, burst through writer's block, or complete a specific writing-related task. You can use creative writing prompts at any stage of your writing journey to bring originality, inspiration, and confidence to your work.

For example:

• Let's say you're just starting out as a writer, and while you already have an idea for a novel, you don't know where to begin the writing process. You ask a generative AI tool like ChatGPT to prompt you with some ideas to get you over that initial hurdle. It gives you some options like, "Reflect on why writing a novel is important to you" and "What do you want readers to get out of reading your novel?" You start jotting ideas down on them both and actually experience a rush of ideas o...

Discover the major steps of the writing process, why they matter, and how to personalize the process to produce your best work.

By Julie Tyler, Creator of StoryBold 

CONTENTS:

• What is the writing process?
• What are the steps of the writing process?
• Why is the writing process worth going through?
• FAQ

What is the writing process?

The writing process refers to a set of tasks for completing a single writing project, from idea to finished product. In your experience as a writer, you might complete a variety of projects, including:

• Short works like essays, poems, or stories
• Long works like novels, memoirs, or a self-help book

The writing process begins with that first moment of inspiration and goes all the way to the moment you make your work available to readers. Following a process means that you plan what to do first, second and so forth, so that each step logically follows the one before it and helps you complete the next step with greater ease. By mastering the writing...