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WELCOME TO ANNE BELLOWS BOOKS
The Writing Tips Blog of Many Colors
The new home of my Tumblr blog! Here you can find my curated tips on the writing process. Everything from worldbuilding and character design to story structure, themes, and tackling those tough tropes and archetypes, with a few top ten lists sprinkled about.
Segway Characters (Or when your protagonist knows jack about the story)
This is the protagonist of a sci-fi or fantasy world, generally a nobody who gets dragged in either by circumstance or by being the...
Jul 23, 20245 min read
“How do I know if my story needs work or if I’m just being hard on myself?”
As I sit here accepting the fact that at 70k words into Eternal Night’s sequel while waiting for my editor for Eternal Night itself, that...
Jul 23, 20246 min read
How to Make Your Writing Less Stiff Part 3
Once again, I am recirculating tried-and-true writing advice that shouldn’t have to compromise your author voice and isn’t always...
Jul 23, 20244 min read
Juggling Multiple POVS (Writing Like A Movie)
At one point in a WIP, I had one character being held captive, two characters on a quest to bust them out, two characters racing to join...
Jul 23, 20247 min read
Your colloquialisms are ruining the immersion (or, non-contemporary dialogue)
I am no expert here! Whenever I wrote historical fiction it was anachronistic historical fiction. This advice is from a reader’s...
Jul 23, 20244 min read
How to make your writing sound less stiff part 2
Again, just suggestions that shouldn’t have to compromise your author voice, as I sit here doing my own edits for a WIP. 1. Crutch words...
Jul 23, 20244 min read
What No One Tells You About Writing 8— “Anyone can write a book”
Yes. But actually no. I say “writing is easy” in that it doesn’t take a degree and textbook learning to understand. You can get an...
Jul 23, 20248 min read
How to make your writing sound less stiff
Just a few suggestions. You shouldn’t have to compromise your writing style and voice with any of these, and some situations and scenes...
Jul 23, 20243 min read
The Dos and Don’ts of Giving and Receiving Constructive Criticism
Some of these should be painfully obvious and yet. They come from experience. Receiving feedback: Do Understand that a criticism of a...
Jul 23, 20244 min read
Dialogue Tags Are Not Optional
I think I read too much fanfic. I must. Because fanfic has given me an unrealistic expectation of properly tagged dialogue that...
Jul 23, 20243 min read
A Guide to Productive Filler
I was going to write this post about the wonders of fanfic and how it does not do the “forced miscommunication for cheap drama” trope,...
Jul 23, 20246 min read
Checklist of character traits prone to inconsistency:
It’s great to give a lot of detail to character traits and personality quirks, but they aren’t real people, you’ve made them up, and...
Jul 23, 20243 min read
What No One Tells You About Writing #7 —The Editing Edition
Unless you have a significant other totally and completely invested in your writing journey, no one else will have the same priorities
Jun 14, 20244 min read
25 Cheap and Easy Tricks for Naming Your Characters
Because I hate coming up with new names. I hate it. I write fantasy. Why do I do this to myself? The credits of your favorite movies,...
Jun 14, 20241 min read
Content Warnings for Original Books
Can we please encourage content warnings for smut and other triggering topics in published literature? This needs to be a thing. Everyone...
Jun 14, 20246 min read
Anne's Curated Tips on Worldbuilding Megapost
Some of these are not mine, they’re from author Randy Ellefson, I’m just interpreting the tips I like in my own words. These specifically...
Jun 14, 202411 min read
What No One Tells You About Writing #6
This round we’re doing some recent discoveries on my writing journey. Some are less groundbreaking and more “I did not expect this to...
Jun 14, 20247 min read
8 Signs your Sequel Needs Work
Sequels, and followup seasons to TV shows, can be very tricky to get right. Most of the time, especially with the onslaught of sequels,...
Jun 14, 20249 min read
What No One Tells You About Writing #5
1. Not everyone will like your book, no matter how good it is I’ve said this before, granted, but sometimes you can have very arbitrary...
Jun 14, 20247 min read
On Writing Theme (Or, Make it a Question)
An element of story so superficially understood and yet is the backbone of what your work is trying to say. Theme is my favorite element...
Jun 14, 20246 min read
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