The Tortured Artist. It's society's idyllic image: beauty wrought of struggle, of madness. There's truly no creative stereotype I loathe more. The Tortured Artist so frequently pictured in film and television teaches that the best works cannot be produced unless one is battling demons, deep in the grip of dangerous substances, or struggling under the weight of mental illness. 

As a writer who does live with mental illness — depression, to be exact — I can say from experience that such struggles have in no way improved my work. On the contrary, they regularly leave me feeling further demotivated and ashamed. 

However, I have learned a thing or two about living my best writing life despite struggles with mental illness, and knowing that I'm not alone, I'd like to share those things with you today.

When I first began writing, I didn't have a clue who my future readers would be.

I wrote for myself, as I believe many writers do when they first begin. But I was eighteen at the time, wafting through the grey space between teenage- and adult-hood, and every time I matured as a person, my writing matured too. As a result, my stories were ever-changing, and I struggled to maintain a hold on the narratives I was trying to tell.

This is why, when I first came across the concept of an ideal reader, my interest immediately piqued. With it, however, came a million questions. What in the world is an ideal reader? Can you be your own? How can having a clear picture of your future readers help shape your stories for the better? Writer, we're breaking it all down in today's article, so let's get started!

Do you prefer working with tangible notes as you write?

Admittedly, I’m not a fan of hand-writing my work in the slightest. I complete nearly all of my brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising, and editing in Scrivener. That said, I recently had the opportunity to try out printed scene cards courtesy of my friend and fellow author Jennifer Bull, and I had a blast playing around with all of their possibilities.

How did I use the scene cards Jenn designed as I worked? Let’s discuss three ways to integrate them into your writing process today!

How you choose to structure and style your story's prose can make all the difference.

Two of the biggest elements that affect your prose are, of course, point-of-view and tense. Does it really matter if you write your book in first-person or third-person? In past or present tense? In some cases, yes. In fact, point-of-view and tense are a bit like the clothes you wear each day. They may not change who you are, but they do affect others' impressions of you. 

And a good first impression can make all the difference, right? So today, writers, we're going to explore the kinds of impressions point-of-view and tense can make and how you can be sure to choose the right option for your story!

Hello, writers! Kristen here. Today, I'm excited to welcome my first guest writer of 2016 to the Well-Storied blog. Maria Ribas is a writer and literary agent and the blogger behind Cooks & Books, where she shares fantastic advice for fiction and non-fiction writers alike.

Today, Maria is here to talk to with us all about a few healthy habits highly successful authors practice that make literary agents want to jump for joy. If you're looking to build a successful career in publishing, these are the tips for you! Now without any further ado, I'll hand the reins over to Maria...

Life is better when you do it together — and your writing life often is, as well.

In a recent article here at Well-Storied, we discussed the importance of editing with objectivity. But sometimes, even the most objective lens we can conjure just isn't enough to help us craft the very best versions of our books. Sometimes, it's a second pair of eyes that can really make all the difference as we work to elevate our stories.

Of course, that second pair of eyes can come in many forms: alpha or beta readers, editors, and, as we're going to discuss today, critique partners. Just how valuable an experience can it be to work with a critique partner? And how can you go about finding and building such a relationship? Let's break down everything you need to know in today's article!

Hello, lovely writers! Join me in welcoming today's guest teacher, author Mariella Hunt. Fresh off of the overwhelming success of her first serial, The Autumn Prince, Mariella has graciously agreed to share the lessons she's learned from her experience.

Interested in learning more? Grab a cup of tea, and read on!

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We live in a wonderful age in which there are many ways to tell a story.

Our self-expression is no longer limited to poetry, song, and acting; these days we also express ourselves through photography and 3D art. Human emotion can be captured through countless mediums our ancestors never imagined.

With personal blogs, we can tell stories immediately by clicking a button; nothing stops us from being heard. Recently I experimented telling a story this way, initiating a project that gave me insight on many things—for example, I learned what people look for in a story as well as the person telling it.

It's because I tried my hand at something I've been meaning to do for years: A serial.

For years, I struggled deeply with the dialogue in my stories. I didn’t have a natural knack for writing conversations that felt real and true to character, and I let this weakness deter me from striving to improve. But stories need dialogue, and my own was suffering for a lack of attention.

Finally, I decided that enough was enough. I began reading every bit of advice on writing dialogue that I could get my hands on. I studied the novels I read, and I rewrote the conversations in my stories again and again, until at last I began to see improvement.

More importantly, I came to understand dialogue as the complex literary powerhouse that it is.

Unfortunately, it’s this very complexity that can make quality dialogue so difficult to craft. That’s why I’m breaking down nineteen steps for writing better dialogue in today’s article, beginning with ten tips for crafting richer, more nuanced conversations.

Sometimes the best lessons of our writing careers come from unexpected places.

Four years ago, I jetted off to New York to study publishing at NYU in a bid to make my English degree worth something. I expected to learn about business, not storytelling, but some of the best writing advice I ever received came from that course.

Every day, professionals from various roles in the publishing industry came to speak to the class. The goal was to teach us about how publishing worked and help us find our places within that industry, but it was also an amazing opportunity to learn about how stories come to life. No matter what aspect of the publishing world a person comes from, he or she is a career storyteller.

One of the best lessons I learned there came from a journalist specializing in long, in-depth articles (the kind of central stories you read in magazines like Time). He spoke about finding stories and pitching them to editors, hoping to get the green light. It's easy, he explained, to find something to write about. It's finding the angle -- the hinge point of an interesting story -- that's the hard part.

I’ve been there—several times—and I bet you have too. You work non-stop on getting that draft finished, going through round after round of revisions, then copy edits. Add on top of that your family life, the day job, and keeping up with personal relationships.

All of that together is bound to lead to a burnout every now and then. You start dreading opening that document, your brain hasn’t come up with any new story ideas, and you even hate the idea of logging online to promote your blog or book. You’re not alone.

Every writer has experienced burnout, but not every writer has been able to come back from it. You can. You can shuck off the exhaustion and lack of motivation and get your career back on track. I’m going to show you how.

Throughout the years, I’ve gone through what I call miniature burnouts. They only last about a couple weeks and, really, these types of burnout are about catching up on sleep and getting back into a routine. However, in 2014, after several full-blown rewrites of my latest release at the insistence of my editor, I suffered from a two-month long burnout I just couldn’t bounce back from.

When discussing revisions, it doesn't take long for the phrase "kill your darlings" to appear.

The phrase has been attributed to many authors over the years, but in every case, its sentiment remains the same: as you edit, you must be willing to remove any element that does not serve your story, even those you love. As I've often said here at Well-Storied, everything in your novel must serve a purpose. 

Think you may be holding onto a few darlings in your own manuscript? Not sure what those elements might be? Let's discuss everything you need to know about killing your darlings today, writers!

Before you even sit down to type the first word of your novel, there’s some groundwork you need to do first.

You need to spend time developing your characters, world, plot, and doing lots (and lots) of research. This is known as the pre-writing stage, and it’s something we don’t talk about often enough as writers.

“But I don’t want to do more work!” you lament.

Shhhh. Just accept it now and it will make your life loads easier. Trust me. What I’ve discovered after several novels and years of writing is that the time you invest in your pre-writing stage will determine how smoothly the writing process goes. And you want it to go as smoothly as possible, right? (Hint: just say yes).

I feel like a lot of new writers think that you come up with some ideas and then just dive right into your story. I mean, sure, you could do it that way. But you’re just making things harder on yourself.