Columnists

Promoting Your Book Online: Literary Citizenship

In my last column, I shared tips for promoting your book online without burnout. I covered making a marketing plan ahead of your book launch, defining boundaries around what you share online, and cultivating ...

Promoting Your Book Online: Avoiding Burnout

Does anyone else remember back in the mists of time when you didn’t know your favourite writer had a book coming out until you saw it on the shelf? You may have attended a reading or read an interview ...

Building a Writing Routine When You’re Bad at Routines

I’ve written before about my bad luck in developing a structured writing routine. I’m happy to report that in the time since I wrote that, I still haven’t developed a structured writing routine—but ...

On Finding Inspiration Through Deconstruction

In my last column, I talked about the unexpected rewards of returning to the same themes and subject matter in your work. But there’s a related facet to this that I feel deserves its own examination—the ...

On Writing the Same Book Over and Over

In a 2015 webchat on The Guardian’s site, Kazuo Ishiguro was asked about his varied subject matter. He replied:“My subject matter doesn't vary so much from book to book. Just the surface does. The ...

When Life Influences Form

What’s the best form for your next writing project? Often, this is decided by the sort of thing you want to write. Your sprawling epic fantasy idea likely won’t work as a short story, for example. ...

7 Ways to Develop Secondary Characters

Many authors do a good job at developing their protagonist or POV characters. After all, readers will be in these characters’ heads throughout an entire book. But as many readers can attest to, sometimes ...

Tips for Writing in a Hybrid Genre

Hybrid genres are on the rise, but many writers feel unsure about how to manage expectations of the different genres while writing, and how to market their finished product. As a reader and a writer, ...

How Much Do Book Tropes and Aesthetics Matter?

If you’ve spent time on Twitter or Instagram recently, you may have noticed authors and readers sharing graphics that outline a book’s major tropes, or the aesthetics of a book through mood boards.I’ll ...

Managing a Writing Career and Mental Illness

As someone who's dealt with chronic depression and anxiety for most of my life, I know how difficult it can be to balance mental illness and writing. Sometimes, the thought of working on my latest book ...