What I Learned: Writing Course for Authors (Lesson 6)
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Writing Courses for Authors:
How to Build an Author Blog
Novel 101
Writing YA Novels
Writing Short Stories
Writing Dialogue: Plot and Character Development
Point of View
Turn Up The Heat in Romance
Show Don't Tell
Writing Poetry
Writing a Children's Book
Character Development
How to Plot a Novel
How to Write Romance
How to Write YA Novels That Sell
How to Build an Author Blog
SEO = Search Engine Optimization. It helps your blog posts show up on Google, which means more eyes on your content, your book, and your offers for years to come.
The key? High-quality content and smart linking. Focus on:
Set permalinks cleanly — no random numbers or gibberish. Use your post title or keywords. But heads up: only change old links if you know how to redirect them, or you’ll lose your existing link traffic.
You want links from other trusted websites to your blog, known as backlinks. That’s what tells Google: “Hey, this site is legit.”
How to get backlinks:
Guest post (and link your content inside the article, not just in your bio)
Do interviews or podcasts (hosts usually link back to your site)
Use HARO to get quoted as an expert — it can lead to some serious link juice
Link your related posts to each other (known as interlinking). This helps Google and keeps readers exploring your content.
Pro tip: When you write a new post, go back and edit your older posts to add a link to the new one. That spreads the SEO power around.
Novel 101
A powerful setting grounds your story and can function almost like an additional character. It shapes mood, atmosphere, and is often what readers remember most.
Think of crime fiction: Rebus and Edinburgh, Bosch and L.A., Wallander and Ystad – setting is crucial. In genres like fantasy or sci-fi, worldbuilding is essential, and it takes thoughtful preparation. Knowing your world as deeply as you know your characters prevents scenes from feeling vague or generic.
How to plan your setting:
Write what you know: If your story’s set where you live, great – you have easy access to inspiration.
Visit if you can: Walk the streets, take photos, experience it firsthand.
Use tools if not: Google Street View can help with faraway or fictionalized locations.
For historical fiction: Use a mix of research and imagination. Diaries, letters, and newspapers from the time are goldmines.
For futuristic/fantasy: Ground your imaginary world in elements of real life to give it authenticity.
Don’t just describe what the place looks like. Think of how it smells, sounds, tastes, and feels. Details make settings vivid – they’re what bring your scenes to life and keep them from reading like lifeless backdrops.
Writing YA Novels
Tropes exist for a reason—they’re familiar, effective, and sometimes even true. But that doesn’t mean we should stop there.
The pretty cheerleader, the arrogant jock, the nerdy outcast... we’ve seen them all before. What makes them actually interesting is what lies beneath the surface. Maybe the cheerleader slays vampires on weekends. Maybe the jock is hiding a monstrous secret. That’s the good stuff.
Tropes are tools, not traps. Use them to kick things off, but always dig deeper. Your characters should feel real, flawed, and layered—not flat like paper dolls. Villains need nuance. Heroes need weaknesses. Everyone needs something that makes them human.
Stuck? Character interviews and writing exercises can help you discover what makes your character tick. Because when your characters feel honest, so will your story.
Writing Short Stories
Once you’ve given your story space, it’s time to edit it with fresh eyes. But how? By asking one simple question for every line:
Does this sentence move the plot forward or reveal character? If it doesn’t? CUT IT. No mercy.
A few quick editing tips to clean up your story:
1. Ditch the obvious reminders > Your reader is smart. If you’ve already said Jenny is Jimmy’s girlfriend, don’t keep repeating it. Say it once. Move on.
2. Watch for repetition > If two sentences say the same thing differently, cut one. Pro tip: keep the simpler one. When you over-explain, your voice loses authenticity.
3. Show, don’t tell > Don't say someone is "sneering" or "contemplating." That’s vague. Instead, describe facial expressions or body language that show what’s going on. Eyebrows twitching. Lips curling. Features are tightening like they’re being pulled inward. Now that’s vivid.
4. Keep your descriptions tight > If your character is nervous, you don’t need four signs of it. One powerful visual—like a sharp inhale and stiffening body—is enough.
5. Stop forcing your dialogue tags to convey emotion > Keep it simple. “He said.” “She said.” That’s it.
Let the dialogue and action show us the emotion, not a fancy tag like "he growled."
Writing Dialogue: Plot & Character Development
Dialect is geographic. Characters’ speech should match their setting unless there's a clear reason (e.g., a Cockney accent in midwestern USA needs explanation).
Be careful with how you use accents. Overdone or inauthentic dialect can reduce characters to cultural caricatures or exoticize them unfairly.
Avoid spelling out pronunciation phonetically (like “no speak-a English”), which often results in offensive and inaccurate portrayals.
Use grammar patterns instead to show how a second-language speaker might sound. For instance, in Middlesex, Eugenides shows a Greek character’s accent through grammar mistakes, not phonetic spelling.
Accents and dialects can show diversity, highlight cultural integration struggles, and add depth to characters, if done subtly and respectfully.
Point Of View
Omniscient POV—an all-seeing, all-knowing narrator who can access any character’s thoughts, feelings, or actions, and even jump between time and space.
This POV feels objective and realistic, like a newsreel reporting “just the facts.”
Writing in omniscient POV can be tricky. The freedom to jump between characters and locations can confuse readers if not handled carefully. Writers must avoid "head-hopping" mid-scene and give readers enough time to settle into each character or setting before shifting perspectives.
Turn Up The Heat
To make an erotic scene integral to your story, it must impact plot or character development.
Does it shift a character’s perception or emotional state?
Does it change the relationship dynamic?
Does it move the story forward or complicate it?
Does it reveal something new to the reader?
Before writing:
What are their motives? (love, escape, danger, curiosity, comfort)
What’s the emotional undercurrent? What’s being expressed — or avoided?
Is there sexual tension or emotional tension in the air?
Why now? (Don’t let it be filler or just for spice.)
After writing
What are the consequences?
How do they feel after?
What changes? (Plans, feelings, desires?)
Do they regret it? Want more? Compare it to future encounters?
Did they learn something new (sexually, emotionally, interpersonally)?
Especially in erotica, don’t let frequent sex dilute meaning. Every scene should still count — even subtly. Each one should push something forward: a desire, a conflict, a bond, or a realization.
Show Don't Tell
Don’t just tell the reader how your characters feel — show through action. The way someone moves can speak volumes. A flinch can say more about discomfort than a whole paragraph. Think of it like layering meaning: actions can reveal emotions, relationships, personality, even tension in the plot or setting.
Characters aren’t the only ones who move — settings do, too. The world around your characters can build tone. Think enemy ships gathering (dread) or the chaotic movement of an airport (anxiety). Movement creates atmosphere.
Use purposeful movement — from characters and setting — to express emotion, deepen characterization, and build tension or theme. Does this action have meaning? Or is it just filler?
Writing Poetry
Poetry lives in the body just as much as in the mind. Grounding your work in physical sensations doesn’t limit your poem—it liberates it. It gives your ideas weight, texture, and presence. Whether you're describing the smell of rain on concrete or the motion of your own breath, your reader will feel closer to you.
Writing a Children's Book
YA is a massive category, read by both teens and adults. It’s all about channeling that chaotic, emotional, discovery-filled phase of life—and making it feel real. But don’t let the label fool you: YA readers are sharp, and the industry is competitive.
Your YA novel needs to hit the mark:
Stick between 50K–100K words. Unless you’re writing a fantasy saga, keep it closer to 70K—that’s the sweet spot.
YA loves first person, present tense. Even if you don’t use that POV, the story should feel now. Teen readers want energy, fast pacing, and real stakes. Think: Stuff! Is! Happening!!
Even if it’s not packed with tech and sex, it should acknowledge the current world teens live in. The tone must feel like it belongs in the 2020s.
Teens care deeply about fairness. They want to see bad guys fall—hard. Violent justice, dystopian revenge arcs, and moral complexity hit home. Just look at The Hunger Games.
Middle Grade can get away with one protagonist and one goal. Not YA. YA thrives on rich, layered characters, all chasing different things. Variety keeps older readers hooked.
If it makes sense for your characters to swear and have sex, let it show up naturally.
Teen protagonists want their own world. Adults can be in the background, but the story belongs to the teens. Their decisions, their drama, their growth.
Character Development
Many new writers focus too much on hair color, eye color, height, and race when describing characters. While these help paint a surface-level image, they don’t make characters memorable.
Instead, aim for signature attributes — physical or behavioral traits that reflect the character’s essence.
Include behavioral details — habits, tics, and gestures. These small actions can express emotion or personality without exposition. When readers learn how a character moves or reacts, they can sense how they feel without being told.
Symbolic objects or features can reveal hidden truths.
Helpful questions to shape character descriptions:
What are their hair and eye color? (Simple, but don't stop here.)
Do they have flaws like scars or a crooked nose?
What's their body type — lanky, curvy, brawny, etc.?
What are their physical habits or unconscious gestures?
How do they move or react in different emotional states?
Avoid making every character look or act like a movie star or their friends. Give each one unique traits that stick. Strong descriptions help your characters live in readers’ minds long after the story ends.
How to Plot a Novel
At the 50% mark of your novel, everything changes. The Midpoint is where your protagonist stops reacting and starts acting.
This story beat includes:
A major conflict between protagonist and antagonist (or antagonistic force)
A shift in the protagonist — from passive to proactive
A clear realization of what’s truly at stake
This is your moment to raise the tension and redefine the story.
How to Write Romance
A satisfying Happy Ending in romance needs meaningful conflict (internal and external)—the emotional push-pull that makes the eventual reward feel earned.
Internal Conflict > Character’s personal growth, both the hero and heroine need to overcome something within themselves—a belief, fear, or past hurt that holds them back from love.
External Conflict > The outside problem they must face. This is the obstacle outside themselves that forces them to work together.
Climax = Internal + External Collide > At the story’s peak, both the emotional and situational stakes explode. Either:
An external win triggers a personal epiphany
Or a personal breakthrough leads to solving the external issue
After the “all is lost” moment, we get that cathartic, grand HEA.
How to Write YA Novels That Sell
YA novels are like cars: they need solid mechanics under the hood, even if the ride feels smooth. Pacing, structure, and word count aren’t what sell a book — but if they’re off, they can keep one from selling.
Scenario 1: Bloated Word Count
Symptoms: Word count hits 100k+
Diagnosis: Too long.
Cure: Cut big, not small. Especially in contemporary YA, long manuscripts are a red flag. Editors want tight, focused stories — not 20,000 extra words of wandering.
Scenario 2: Snoozefest Start
Symptoms: Slow beginning; takes too long to get interesting
Diagnosis: Pacing problems
Cure: Start the story later. If it only “gets good” in Chapter Ten, that’s your new Chapter One. Trust readers to catch up on backstory.
Scenario 3: Plot Whiplash
Symptoms: Readers end the book confused AF
Diagnosis: Disjointed or unclear structure
Cure: Foreshadow your plot twists. Surprise is good; confusion is not. Lay the groundwork early so your twist hits hard — and makes sense.
Writing Course for Authors
