Fiction Craft Blog

Disclosure: I received free access to this course for review purposes. This post includes two links: one is an affiliate link (which means I may earn a commission if you enroll, at no extra cost to you), and the other is a non-affiliate link. Feel free to use whichever you prefer. This review reflects my honest assessment of the course. Sophie has been running this course in taught and self-paced versions for a decade. I’m an experienced fiction developmental editor who ori

This blog post is packed with tips on how to to navigate the literary magazine space from an editor who writes speculative fiction and translates literary fiction. Literary magazines and overwhelm for new writers When I first became serious about writing fiction, around five years ago, I took some solid advice and used short stories as a canvas to learn fiction writing craft. A novel is a massive investment of time and energy. If you like writing short stories, I heard, why

From time to time, I receive enquiries from authors who have written a really long novel. I consider really long to be anything over 130K words. So what is the ideal fantasy novel length if you are a debut author wanting to find an agent or self-publish? For established authors with a large audience, that can be fine. But for new authors looking to find an agent or self-publish, a very long novel comes with several problems attached: It will almost certainly receive an automa

Looking to hire a book editor? You can work with one directly or you can use a platform such as Upwork, Fiverr, or Reedsy. Reedsy is the platform most strongly associated with the publishing industry so I’ll offer some tips on the pros and cons of using Reedsy versus hiring an editor directly here: What is Reedsy? Reedsy is a platform that connects writers seeking editorial services with book editors and other publishing professionals (translators, book formatters, etc.). The