Tag: Stuff for Writers

• Point of View (Podcast Episode #5)

  

  I’m super excited to be back with another podcast. In this one, I chat about why I write in deep third point of view and how I choose characters for each scene. I hope you enjoy it! Links mentioned in this one: A Study of Ash & Smoke purchase links: https://yolandiehorak.com/books/a-study-of-ash-smoke A Trial of Sparks […]

  Yolandie Horak

  15th September 2021

  Writing

  A Curse of Venom & Scales, A Study of Ash & Smoke, A Trial of Sparks & Kindling, ACOVAS, ASOAAS, ATOSAK, Book Talk, Book Talk with Yolandie, Deep Point of View, Fall of the Mantle, Fall of the Mantle Book 1, Fall of the Mantle Book 2, Fall of the Mantle Book 3, Indie Writers, Podcast, Podcaster, Point of View, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Advice, Writing Community, Writing Goals, Writing Journey, Writing Life, Writing Process, Writing Tips, Yolandie Writes

• Let’s Write PTSD

  

  I touched a slight bit on PTSD in the Let’s Write Fear post, but I figure this is a complex emotional state and needs more detail. Of course, I’m not a mental health professional, just a writer, so this is in no way aimed to be an educational post for someone in the clutches of […]

  Yolandie Horak

  18th August 2020

  Writing

  Anxiety, Character Development, Emotions, Let’s Write, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, Resources, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Advice, Writing Emotions, Writing Life, Writing PTSD

• Five Easy Ways to Combat Writer’s Block

  

  Ah, writer’s block. The bane of many a writer’s existence. It’s that feeling of shock and having no direction when the inspiration suddenly runs out. It happens to all of us at one point or another, so we all know it’s real. Personally, I just don’t believe in it. Yes, having no inspiration is a […]

  Yolandie Horak

  18th February 2020

  Writing

  How To, Indie Authors, Indie Writers, Resources, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Block, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Advice, Writing Community, Writing Journey, Writing Process

• On Perspective

  

  Just the other day, my fellow blogger and author, SM Mitchell, asked me for my thoughts on impostor syndrome for a blog post. This is the quote she included from yours truly: “No critic can tell you how much is wrong with what I’ve written better than I can. It’s so hard for me to […]

  Yolandie Horak

  4th February 2020

  Personal, Writing

  Impostor Syndrome, Personal, Perspective, Self-Care, Self-Discovery, Self-Doubt, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Advice, Writing Community, Writing Journey, Writing Life, Writing Tips

• Let’s Write – Common Mistakes

  

  Welcome back to another post in our self-editing miniseries. It’s been a hot minute since we last talked about this, so if you want to catch up on the first three posts, here are the links. The Basics of Self-Editing The Structural Edit (pt 1) The Structural Edit (pt 2) Today, we’re going to have […]

  Yolandie Horak

  21st January 2020

  Writing

  Better Writing, Cliches, Common Writing Mistakes, Dictionary Writing, Intensifiers, Let’s Write, Modifiers, Pet Phrases, Resources, Self-Editing, Simple Verbs, Stuff for Writers, Weak Sentence Construction, Weasel Words, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing Community, Writing Life

• Let’s Write – The Structural Edit (Continued)

  

  In the last post, we talked about the first two elements we must revise during the structural edit–plot and setting, and characters. Today, we’ll wrap up the last three. Flow and pace Conflict and resolution Voice and style Let’s get right to it. Flow and Pace I’ve grouped these two elements together, because most of […]

  Yolandie Horak

  31st October 2019

  Writing

  Edit, Editing, Editors, How To, How To Self-Edit, Indie Authors, Indie Writers, Self-Editing, Structural Editing, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Advice

• Let’s Write – The Structural Edit

  

  Welcome back to the self-editing miniseries. 🙂 It’s good to have you. Last time, we summarised the self-edit. Feel free to check that out if you want to brush up first. In the next two posts, we’ll be looking in-depth at the first big part of the self-edit–structural editing. (Quick note. I wanted to keep […]

  Yolandie Horak

  29th October 2019

  Writing

  Basic Self-Editing, Better Writing, Edit, Editing, How To, How To Self-Edit, Indie Authors, Indie Writers, Let’s Write, Self-Editing, Structural Editing, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Advice

• Let’s Write – Basics of Self-Editing

  

  Something about the editing process has always intrigued me, and I’ve wanted to take an editing course or two for ages. Yet, I’ve always had an excuse why not to take that course. I sent off A Trial of Sparks & Kindling to my editor at the end of September, which meant I had nothing […]

  Yolandie Horak

  17th October 2019

  Writing

  Basic Self-Editing, Developmental Editing, Editing, How To, How To Self-Edit, Let’s Write, Line Editing, Proofreading, Self-Editing, Structural Editing, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Advice

• Major Character Death

  

  I’ve recently read a few books where major characters died–and I’m talking viewpoint or main cast characters–only to be resurrected. Then, you know, they all live happily ever after. When this dead-but-resurrected-thing happened the first time, I was annoyed but okay. My mood elevated to disgruntled by the second time, then shot into the orbit […]

  Yolandie Horak

  25th July 2019

  Writing

  Character Development, Character Tropes, Characters, Major Character Death, Opinions, Readers, Stuff For Readers, Stuff for Writers, tropes, Tropes we hate, Tropes we love, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources

• On Writing Advice

  

  The internet. A place of abundance. You can learn almost anything on YouTube or blogs. Unfortunately, many of these instructional sites will just as easily help you fail as help you learn. Others won’t set you up for failure, sure, but your growth process can still be stunted by bad advice. Which brings us to […]

  Yolandie Horak

  6th March 2019

  Writing

  Better Writing, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Advice

• How to Support Indie Authors

  

  Another huge bomb has dropped on the world of indie authors. If you haven’t heard about the #copypastecris disaster, this is where it started. The TL;DR version of what happened is this: Cristiane Serruya copied sections from over 50 romance books by over 30 authors and hired ghostwriters to thread those copied scenes together, then […]

  Yolandie Horak

  27th February 2019

  Writing

  Help, How To Help Indie Authors, Indie Authors, Indie Writers, Readers, Reading, Stuff For Readers, Stuff for Writers, Support Indie Authors, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing

• On Tropes

  

  Ah, tropes. The building blocks of all the stories ever crafted. What’s a trope? Well, those themes and elements we find over and over in novels, movies, games, series. For example, a princess with a mean stepmother. A cop who joined the force because their father was killed in the line of duty. A fairy […]

  Yolandie Horak

  13th February 2019

  Writing

  Better Writing, Stuff for Writers, tropes, Tropes we hate, Tropes we love, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writing, Writing Advice, Writing Tips

• Strong Female Characters

  

  There’s this thing all around the internet. Advice paired with a general outcry–write strong female characters. I’ve had multiple conversations about this in the last few weeks, and I thought we could continue chatting about it here. People want Strong Female Characters (from here on SFC) to the point where they come down really hard […]

  Yolandie Horak

  6th February 2019

  Writing

  Character Development, Characters, Resources, Strong Characters, Strong Female Characters, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing

• Let’s Write Confidence

  

  It’s so good to be back in the swing of things with a writing post, especially one that adds to the Let’s Write Series. Now, I see you doing a double take there. Didn’t this used to be called the writing emotions series? It did, but then I had so many ideas to add to […]

  Yolandie Horak

  15th January 2019

  Writing

  Better Writing, Confidence, Let’s Write, Resources, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Confidence

• Travel in Writing

  

  Quick fact – the average horse and the average person travel about the same distance per day. As in, giving your hero a horse may not actually bring them to the epic battle faster than they’d have gotten there on foot. No, I didn’t make that up. Hollywood, gaming houses, and other media tell us […]

  Yolandie Horak

  8th August 2018

  Writing

  Horses, Let’s Write, Realistic Travel Distances, Resources, Stuff for Writers, Travel, Travel by Horse, Walking, Walking Distances, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing

• Let’s Write Joy

  

  If you’re here for the first time, I’ve been writing a series of posts on the body language of various emotions, so authors have a quick reference when they get stuck writing diverse characters. It’s so easy to fall into the same old repetitive action tags. I can’t tell you how many times I used […]

  Yolandie Horak

  1st August 2018

  Writing

  Better Writing, Emotions, Joy, Let’s Write, Resources, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Emotions, Writing Joy

• Let’s Write Fear

  

  From a fright when the spider lands on your arm, to being scared of the weird guy on the blind date, to full-blown terror when a dragon sticks its head out of the cave and you left your sword at home, fear is one of the most complex emotions that we’ve all had to deal […]

  Yolandie Horak

  4th July 2018

  Writing

  Anxiety, Better Writing, Emotions, Fear, Let’s Write, Resources, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Emotions, Writing Fear

• Let’s Write Excitement and Nerves

  

  Welcome to part three of the Writing Emotions series! You can check out the others here, and come back in two weeks for the next part. Today we’re chatting about nervousness and excitement. Since these amount to the same thing in terms of body language, I figured I’d group them. Of course, there are some […]

  Yolandie Horak

  20th June 2018

  Writing

  Emotions, Excitement, Let’s Write, Nerves, Nervousness, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Emotions, Writing Excitement, Writing Nervousness

• Let’s Write Sadness

  

  Picking up from where we left off, we’re talking about sadness or grief today. The topic was suggested to me by someone in the writing group I belong to on Facebook. Love was also suggested and I’ll definitely delve into that one, but I think it might need to be spread over more than one […]

  Yolandie Horak

  6th June 2018

  Writing

  Emotions, Grief, Let’s Write, Sadness, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Emotions, Writing Sadness

• Let’s Write Anger

  

  Friends. Writing is difficult. Especially emotions, which are the slightest bit important to make your characters come alive. At first, you really try to have your cast do interesting things, show interesting body language and have interesting expressions. But then, you slip into that easy repetition. He gave a look. She nodded. They shrugged. Or […]

  Yolandie Horak

  23rd May 2018

  Writing

  Anger, Emotions, Let’s Write, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Anger, Writing Emotions

• The Writer’s Supply Network

  

  Hang around writer’s forums long enough and you’ll soon see that there are many fake service providers out there. People who claim they’ll help you polish your manuscript before the world sees it, then disappear with your cash. And since so many people are self-publishing these days, the demand for indie service providers is on […]

  Yolandie Horak

  2nd March 2018

  Writing

  Author, Beta Readers, Beta Reading, Blurb, Cover Dersign, Cover Designers, Editors, Formatting, Graphic Design, Indie Writers, Resources, Service Providers, Services for Writers, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writer’s Supply Network, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Services