A dead professor. A gold pendant. A mysterious poem. As Carly Stuart starts college, the search for a murderer—and the Holy Grail itself—is on. Read on to learn more about Christine Galib’s writing process and The Knights of the Dagger series.
Read MoreErika Malinoski discusses her debut novel, Pledging Season, which brings to light the inequalities of sexism and gender discrimination in a gripping alternate reality where gender norms are turned on their head in a powerful matriarchal society.
Read MoreInspired by the true story of the thirty-eight Dakota-Sioux men hanged in Minnesota in 1862―the largest mass execution in US history―Dovetails in Tall Grass is a powerful tale of two young women connected by the fate of one man. Samantha Specks talks to us about writing her moving story.
Read MoreWe like to sit down with our authors as often as we can to hear more about their process in the hopes that it’s helpful for other writers. No two processes are alike, and writers continually evolve their method. Here’s a peak into the way Richard Seltzer, a prolific writer, has managed to spin yarn after yarn.
Read MoreRead MoreReader Spotlight: By day, Khaiyah is a video editor, illustrator and content creator at the branding company DynamikWorks. She’s also a poet, recent high school grad, a world traveler, and of course, a Spun Yarn beta reader. Khaiyah started out beta reading Young Adult and Romance, but as she gets older she’s expanded her literary repertoire, and is one of our fastest and most reliable eclectic readers of all genres.
Every author’s process is different, and we’re always interested in hearing about how an author manages to move from an idea to a fully-fledged book. We recently sat down with Spun Yarn author Steve Wechselblatt to talk about the strange journey his mystery novel has taken from genesis to execution.
Read MoreWe recently sat down with author Kristine Rudolph, a women’s fiction and YA novelist about to go on submission for her latest manuscript. We were impressed by the strength of her manuscript and by Kristine’s acute insights about choosing tools for specific stages in the writing process. We thought this interview with Kristine would keep you inspired over the holiday break!
Read MoreIn the digital age, there are so many tools that you’ll be overwhelmed if you’re not extremely intentional about what your writing goals are. Which tools best serve each step of the journey? Part of the work of writing is learning which tools work best in the researching, drafting, editing, pre-publishing, and post-publishing stages.
Read MoreLast week, Author Accelerator's CEO Jennie Nash and I did a webinar about the difference between beta reading and book coaching. While book coaches and beta readers help authors succeed at two different points in the creative process, an organized and passionate beta reader could also become a successful book coach. Jennie is hosting a free Business of Book Coaching Summit, and she's here to tell you more about it.
Read MoreRead MoreBy day, Shareca is an English teacher and tutor, and is about to begin her MFA in film studies. Because that’s not enough, she also runs a Comic Book and Gaming Aficionado website at The Daily Fandom and is a longtime reader for us here at The Spun Yarn! She reads everything, but especially Young Adult, Poetry, and Mystery/Thriller.
Before we start to curate an author's Spun Yarn Manuscript Report, we ask how far along they think they are in the editing process, on a scale of 1 - 10. The average score over a hundred manuscripts? 7.3. We also track every manuscript's scores from readers, who are comparing the manuscript they've just to other well-known books in the genre. The average overall score? 6 / 10. There's a gap here. It's grayish, smudgy around the edges, and rrrrrreally annoying to authors.
Read MoreThe best way to beat writer’s block is to keep writing, and the best way to continue your practice of writing is to write on a subject you know inside and out. That subject is YOU! Writing about yourself or your experiences is a great way to continue your writing habit with an aim toward curing that writer’s block. Below, you’ll find 25 personal questions to use as writing prompts.
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