Do Readers Care about Point of View?

ACFWAdvice, Authors and writing, POV, Reading, writing 7 Comments

By B.D. Lawrence @BDLawrence3 Lately, I’ve read a lot of books with different variations of point of view. There are the traditional private eye novels that are always first person. I’ve read third-person point of view. No surprise. There are novels with multiple first-person points of view – by chapter. Multiple third-person points of view, usually by chapter, but not …

Why Does a Story Work?

ACFWAdvice, Authors and writing, Characters, Critiques, Encouragement, Fellowship, Learning, Reading, Story Structure, tips, writing 8 Comments

By Cynthia Herron @C_Herronauthor Did you ever set out on a road trip or a vacation and somewhere along the way miss a turn and realize you were lost? Maybe that’s why I don’t drive in big cities (says the woman who recently moved to a suburb of a Midwest city that boasts an 800,000+ population). Turning around in the middle of …

Take Aim: Finding Your Target Audience

ACFWAdvice, Authors and writing, creativity, Editing, Friends of ACFW, Reading, revisions, tips, writing 4 Comments

by John Matthew Walker  @jdubmd If you’ve ever been to a writers conference or critique group, you’ve heard the phrase “target audience.” But what does it really mean? Who is your target audience? And why is it so important? Imagine yourself taking up a new hobby. It sounded crazy. You didn’t really want to do it, but you reconnected with …

ACFW Storyfest (Takeover Blitz and GIVEAWAY!)

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Welcome to the Takeover Blitz for ACFW Storyfest, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours! You are Invited ACFW Storyfest August 24-26, 2023 Hyatt Regency at the Arch, St. Louis When hundreds of authors gather for their annual ACFW conference in August, readers are invited to participate in their own event on the same premises. Storyfest will present a full program of …

Learning from Reading a Master Novelist

ACFWAuthors and writing, Friends of ACFW, Learning, Reading, writing Leave a Comment

By Carol Buchanan, PhD The best thing fiction writers can do for ourselves is to read fiction. Read any novel you can get your eyeballs on. Read popular novels, novels you wouldn’t write on a bet, novels of all sorts and in as many genres as you can without saying “Yuck” and throwing the book away. (Because we want to …

And Your Readers Are?

ACFWAdvice, Authors and writing, Encouragement, Friends of ACFW, Learning, Reading, writing 2 Comments

By Lynn Hobbs Years ago I was taught to write to a certain group selected to be your target market. Various writing workshops and writing conferences included this type of training. Age and gender or ages and genders were to be strictly adhered to for whatever you were writing. Consistency was of utmost importance. The argument was believable, and presented …