Ryan Lanz's Blog, page 27

How to Write a Book – 8 Tips for Beginners

Writing a novel is hard.  That’s my only writing tip.  The end. Thanks for reading, everyone! Okay I may have figured out a few other writing tips.  It’s a laborious and thankless job with a remote probability of success  Still, it’s better than the alternative, which is not writing a book. Recently, I completed the final sentence […]

How to Find a Good Editor for Your Book

We all know how it goes. You write a knockout book, but that’s only the beginning. Getting from The End to publication can be a real headache, and a big part of that headache is finding an editor who is affordable, professional and available when you need them. There are simply thousands of editors to […]

Finding Writing Fascination (and Inspiration!)

I don’t know why, but I’m absolutely fascinated with the ducks at the lagoon in downtown Loveland, Colorado. This fascination reminds me of my fascination with writing. I have to visit the ducks—twice a day if I can, once on my way to the gym nearby and a second time when I’m taking my dog […]

The 5 Biggest Cliches in YA Romance

Recently, I’ve spent some time working my way through the bestseller list of YA romance fiction – everything from John Green to hit debuts such as ‘Everything Everything’ by Nicola Yoon, which was recently made into a movie. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the book. But for now I’m done with YA fiction and […]

Almost Outlined: Working Past Mental Bottlenecking to Create a Killer Book Outline

Say your novel-to-be is about rock and roll—that much is clear—and you’re ready to outline. Or rather, ready or not, you need to outline. You sit down to your spreadsheet, blank Word doc, legal pad, or multicolored sticky notes, your head abuzz with story impressions: the thudding loudness and in-your-faceness of rock’s heyday; the rock modernists; some […]

The Purpose Behind a Poem a Day

Starting in September, I’m going to take on the challenge of writing a poem a day for 30 days. I’m not original in this idea—I attended a poetry workshop Saturday, Aug. 5, presented by Placerville, Colorado, poet, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, where I learned about her 30-day poem challenge that has since extended to more than […]

How to Begin to Write Poetry

Poetry is the voice of the soul and is often considered a free-flowing form of expression. Poets help us see a slice of the world in a way in which we might not have observed it before. They highlight details to cast a light on a feeling, an image, or an event. Poetry also helps […]

Let’s Have More Writer Love

Writing can be a lonely business. By its very nature it is often a solitary existence. As a writer I have often thought how sad it is that some writers don’t support each other more. We are probably all after the same goal. We all want to write, and most to be heard. Some do […]

To Cliffhanger or Not to Cliffhanger, That is the Question…

Can a story still be a cliffhanger if nobody's actually hanging off a cliff?

Lies Told By Small Presses

Like many of my posts, this stems from something I saw in an online writer’s group. Essentially, someone who has been traditionally published from a small press was putting down people who self-publish. Personally, I have my own problems with self-publishing that I discuss in my “Why I’ll Never Self-Publish” post, but that is beside the […]