Writing Tips and Tricks: How To Think Like a Reader, Not an Author

When I first started writing, I had a note card propped up against my keyboard that said, "Kill the author." It was a reference to something I'd heard at a conference about how sometimes as writers, we get in our own ways when trying to craft a story.

But I am an author. How am I supposed to step away from my story and see it the way a reader sees it?

Many times new writers are absolutely CONVINCED they are the next Stephen King, the next J.K. Rowling, the next Stephenie Meyer. One agent...