It’s definitely important to write a self-help book when it’s a trauma or problem you’ve personally faced. Someone who has never struggled with pornography and hates it can’t easily help someone who goes through it because the certain level of emotional and psychological understanding isn’t as strong as it is with someone who overcame a battle of pornography themselves.

There are three great styles of writing to self-help books:

1. Writing about an issue you’ve overcome

2. Writing about an issue you are overcoming

3. Writing about an issue you overcame while writing

The phrase, “A writer cannot take a reader where they have not gone themselves,” by Constance Kellough, couldn’t be more true. Here are some tips to guide you on the right pathway to making a successful self-help novel:

1. Do your research wisely. Should you use other resources, which it’s highly recommended you do, make sure the author or books you research are trained in the facts and know a thing or two about the topic. And always cite their work if you use it, whether word for word in quotes or paraphrasing.

2. The research should be the skeleton of your writing, but it’s important to stem from your own experiences and understanding, as well. Often, the most influential way to help someone in a situation is knowing they are not alone in the struggle. Being transparent may give the personal edge needed to impact a life.

3. There should be a purpose behind the self-help book besides just making someone aware of something. Define and refine your purpose, and make sure you don’t lose that focus in the writing process.

4. Be real with your readers. Some parts of your situation relating to your self-help book may not be completely resolved. That’s ok. Sometimes you won’t have the answer. But your book shouldn’t be a drama fest where you unload all your life’s problems and label it a self-help story. Save that for your private journal.

5. Failure doesn’t mean you didn’t learn. If you want to write about something you failed at, but you still learned from the experience, share what you’ve learned. Build your stance further based on other people’s experiences they are willing to share with you.

Above all other things, never be afraid to do what’s right. If this book is on your mind day and night and you truly think it’ll motivate others to learn, step out and write! So remember: Research, write your story and inspire and teach those about this purpose you hold dear to you. The rest will be history.

Citations:

Allenby, Sasha. “Write An Evolutionary Self-Help Book: The       Definitive Guide for Spiritual Entrepreneurs.” Http://Sashaallenby.com, Wisdompreneurs Publish, 2014.

Safford, David. “How to Write a Self Help Book.” The Write Practice, 10 July 2018, thewritepractice.com/how-to-write-a-self-help-book/.

Whitbourne, Susan. “Five Things You Need to Know About Self-Help Books.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 22 May 2012, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201205/five-things-you-need-know-about-self-help-books.

“History repeats itself.” A phrase we hear more often than not. That’s why history is so important to humanity. Unlike most other stories, historical stories carry their own weight of importance and significance. Thus, it also carries with it more responsibility for writers. Facts, events and even characters can take on a whole new level of research. Let’s see what is necessary and important when deciding to take on a historical story:

Tips for Writing Historical Non-fiction:

1. Do your research. It’s one thing to write a story about yourself, but a whole new animal to write something that needs to be true about someone else. Just because they say it happened to them doesn’t always mean that’s true. Our minds forget details and make up details.
2. Find the story. People love stories. Folk tales, parables, riveting page turners. All of them have a story that can be followed by the reader.
3. Facts are essential but not the full picture. People can write facts all day, but that won’t intrigue many readers. Readers need something they can relate to – a person, an event, a lifestyle, something! Make sure facts are being presented correctly, but that the story has more to offer than just facts.
4. Invite the reader in. Whether you’re putting together a manual or writing about historical events or people, the reader is always to take the journey with you. Use questions, interesting facts, fun twists to a story or other fun things.

 
Tips for Writing Historical Fiction:

1. Keep it real. Historical fiction is generally easier to do because there is less research involved most of the time, but it still needs to be accurate. Just like Napoleon wouldn’t have had a digital watch (Yes, this is an extreme example), don’t let your characters get swooped up in modern, or not so modern, technology for the time period.
2. Time period and location are everything. The time and the place of your story is the most important aspect to historical fiction. With these chosen, you can begin constructing the rest of your story around them. These two are the only two things that must remain consistent throughout the whole book (unless you have historical characters that must remain true to their personas from history).
3. Characters and details. Your characters must interact with your details in history. A female character struggling to get her family out of Germany during World War 2 may hear radio news in the background about Stalin or Hitler invading another country. This type of scenario ties in the historical event with the nonfictional character.
4. Nothing will ever be perfect. Don’t stress some minute detail about whether Hitler told jokes at his meetings or whether Pocahontas and her father, Powhatan, had deep meaningful talks. This is all left to the imagination. If it’s in writing, make sure it’s accurate. Research multiple sources and make sure the facts you use line up with those sources.
5. Bottom line. You can’t satisfy everyone and everyone, ironically, will have different opinions about the gray areas in history that weren’t written down. Just make sure you have fun in the process of writing historical fiction and don’t let people get you down!  

For someone who loves history, researching the time period, characters and any other factual information may be one of the most fun tasks at hand. For those of us who aren’t as keen on history because of poor teachers presenting just the facts with no emotion or excitement, we need people with stories that both teach and entertain. So, whether you’re writing true historical events and lending yourself just to research or whether you’re wanting to spice up a good story among those events, historical writing is as much a love of readers as any other genre. So, get to writing your historical adventure – real or fictitious!

Whether your summer story has two heroes ready to jump into the fires of love or a heroine facing some serious emotional turmoil over her hero, romance novels contain so much more than the basic love story. But before a romance can make a hit, there are many elements to keep in mind during its creation.

Tips for Writing Romance:

1. Have a hero or heroine – Readers will thank you for making them fall in love with a main character they can relate to.
2. Have a conflict – No plot anywhere anytime will amount to anything without a conflict, and emotional conflicts are crucial to a romance.
3. Make a happy ending – Leave the readers with a good feeling when they have turned the last page of your book and set it down.
4. Read previous successful romances – It helps to know what you’re writing about and how successful novels in your genre do things.  

Things to Avoid When Writing Romance:

1. Don’t make perfect characters – Readers aren’t reading your book for a perfect hero. They are looking for the struggle, the insecurities, the abuses that make characters relatable.
2. Don’t make a story about nothing but sex – Sexual tension is one thing, or even a sex scene, but don’t set out to make a porn novel in the name of romance. They are not the same thing.
3. Don’t mistake romance for a love story – Yes, romance does have a love story, but a love story isn’t always a romance. Love stories can have tragic endings, but romance stories are meant for ending on a good note.
4. Don’t mistake boring for romance – although romances may have a basic structure to them, you still can find adventure or plot twists within them. It couldn’t hurt to think about writing something in to add a unique flair.

To see these characteristics in actions, it’s important to read through successful novels that have made a good impact on the readership they aim at. Here are some examples of what these successful novels have done within their stories. Let’s take one of the most famous romance series in today’s world – The Twilight Saga.

1. Character relationships – There are many relationships within the story, both romantic and basic. One major vein within the story is in relationships with all the characters, which brings out the emotional connection between the readers and characters.
2. Character Struggles (Conflicts) – Every character in the story has a struggle. That makes them more imperfect and allows us as the readers to relate to them. From Bella’s struggle with loving Edward in the first book to Renesmee’s struggle with being accepted by the vampire world.
3. Action – With all the struggles and conflicts from the series allows many tense scenes and chapters, such as the fight between James and Edwards, the emotional turmoil Bella felt towards Edward when he was gone or even Edward’s turmoil when he thought Bella was dead and he attempted to reveal himself to the world as a vampire.

These are simply a few of the romance elements shown in the story. The most important decision you can make in a romance – in any genre – is establishing an emotional connection between your readers and your characters. The rest is your playground! 

So, you have a brimming tale in a magical world, where readers battle dragons, ghouls and goblins, but you don’t know where to begin. With this cauldron of boiling ideas and hardly a way to properly execute them, the story can fade away because you’re so overwhelmed with everything that must happen in fantasy. Hopefully, with a little perspective and guidance, writing down the fantasy idea feeding at your brain will be a little easier.
First thing’s first – to label a fantasy story from other stories, you must know some elements that make up a fantasy novel:

1. Plot – Every story should have a plot, but the plot is even more important in a story where a new world or concept of reality is being created.
2. Setting – The place where your story takes place is key to fantasy because it can be different than a typical story’s setting. Settings should be described. Paint a picture for the readers.
3. Some sort of magical element – The magic is what makes fantasy so unique to other genres. It’s a wonderful part, but make sure the kinds of magic or fantasy elements are still understandable to the reader. If they can’t follow the storyline or unfamiliar magic isn’t explained, the novel will likely be set down and not touched again.
4. A world set apart from this world – Most fantasy tales happen on another land, or a land that is similar but not exactly like this world. It’s fun to create new places for your characters to go.
5. Memorable characters – Characters are possibly the most vital part to any story. They make a story worth reading. Characters that readers can relate to, express feelings for, discuss with people in their everyday lives, and fall in love with can make a good story great. Try picking unconditional characters in roles you’d never thought about, instead of the typical types of creatures. Be careful to explain their personalities, features, behaviors, etc.

Other Key Tips to Help You When Writing Fantasy:

1. You can’t write about what you don’t know, so it’s a good idea to get a feel for your story’s genre by reading some successful novels in the same genre. Experiencing a fantasy thrill will help you get a better handle on knowing what’s effective in fantasy and what is required. Here are a few examples of well-known fantasy novels and some of their fantasy elements:

1. Harry Potter – From knowable character types, like witches, wizards, elves and trolls to magical elements found in horcruxes and wands, Harry Potter lets us escape into a world unlike any other. Harry Potter and his friends leave a lasting impact on readers as they take a life-altering journey with him.
2. The Lord of the Rings -  Possibly one of the most complex storylines in literature, this series is definitely one to look up to. Tolkien’s depth of his world is breath-taking. He leads readers into a world where they can find their way alongside him, while still journeying across uncharted waters. His use of details to help the reader understand unknown characters or elements is important to notice.
3. Twilight – This series is a bit different, as it has powers instead of pure magic, but it still is partially a fantasy novel. It also takes place in a true location, but the characters and legends help it gain the “fantasy” element. Technically a young adult fictional romance fantasy, this series also shows you can have more than one genre make up your novel. However, the fantasy is mainly made up in the character types – vampires and werewolves, which don’t exist in the real world.  

2. Don’t be afraid to ask specific questions about foreign objects, characters or places in your story. Just a few of many questions you can ask yourself are:

1. Objects:
   1. What makes this object significant to the story?
   2. What does the object do or look like?
   3. Are there any hidden abilities or characteristics about the object?
2. Characters:
   1. In what ways will this character hurt/help the task at hand?
   2. How do I want this character to appear? Good, evil, comedian, a helper, a hurt, etc.?
   3. How can I make this character impact readers the most?
   4. What feelings do I want to evoke from the readers regarding this character?
3. Setting:
   1. What characteristics of this setting will help or hurt the main character’s mission?
   2. Are there any elements within the setting that have been unexplained to the reader?
   3. What does the setting look like? Does it have other magical/unreal properties that need more explanation?

 
3. Include the 5 senses when describing unknown objects or people – make sure the reader understands completely the personality and characteristics of important things and people in your story.

4. Be sure to remember your details and never stray from them. Your characters and characteristics of objects need to be consistent. Make notes if you must, but make sure you never take your eye off the essence of the people and things in your novel.

5. Make the times and places believable. If you have a time where fantasy creatures lived in the 1800s – and they aren’t time travelers, which merits a whole new article topic – don’t have characters wearing a digital watch or asking Alexa where the nearest telephone is.

All that you read on fantasy is simply a guide to help you achieve the maximum potential your story might have – and these only scratch the surface of what all you can do in the realm of fantasy. Play with it, change it, create it, but don’t leave the readers behind when traveling through your journey.
 
Works Cited: 

“Five Tips For Planning A Fantasy Novel.” Tips on Writing a Fantasy Novel, The Writer's Bureau.
 
Trometter, Mrs. “Elements of Fantasy Literature.” LinkedIn SlideShare, LinkedIn, 30 Nov. 2011. 2 Mar. 2018.
 
Rodriguez, Julie. “Dos and Don'ts For Fantasy/Sci-Fi Writers.” Creative Writing Solutions, Creative Writing Lesson Plans and Resources.

Anamika, et al. “5 Essential Elements Every Fantasy Novel Needs.” Writer's Edit, 21 Nov. 2017.

Greetings, everyone!

Due to holiday time, blog restructuring and end-of-year evaluations, D&R WordSmiths has decided to start fresh with our articles in the new year. We wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas! May you wrap up 2017 with grace and make 2018 your year to shine!

Believe it or not, citations for APA style are not much different from MLA style. Both have the same information, just formatted in a different way. What information you can find will make due, just as in MLA style. In APA, citations are considered references, but both have the same purpose. So, let's look at the burden that is references in the APA format: 

Guidelines for the APA Reference Page Are:

• The running title in the top left corner and the page number in the top right corner are still included in the reference page.
• A title labeled "References" will be centered on the line above the references you list.
• Each reference will have a hanging indent, where the first line of each reference is left-indented and the remaining lines below are indented 1/2-inch.
• Double spaced

In-Text References:

• MLA and APA have their difference in how they cite inside a body of work. APA requires the last name and first initial in parentheses. If the author's name is not provided for the reference, placing the title of the article or book should work.
  • Example for Book Reference: You need a citation manager to help with citations for legal protection. (Doe, J. pp. 20)
  • Example for "Authorless" Book Reference: You need a citation manager to help with citations for legal protection. (How to Reference in APA, pp. 20)
  • Example for Website Reference: You need a citation manager to help with citations for legal protection. (Doe, J.)
  • Example for "Authorless" Website Reference: You need a citation manager to help with citations for legal protection. (How to Reference in APA).

Full References at the End of Your Work:

• Criteria for Website Includes:
  • Last Name, F. M. 
  • (Year, Month Date Published).
  • Article title.
  • Retrieved from URL.

 
EXAMPLE LAYOUT FOR WEBSITE:

• Last Name, F. M. (Year, Month Date Published). Article title. Retrieved from URL.

REAL EXAMPLE FOR WEBSITE: 

• Jane, M. G. (2017, August 10). To Be a Mouse. Retrieved from www.tobeamouse.com/weirdtitle.

Note: The only information that will be in every website reference is the "Retrieved from" portion. 

• Criteria for Book References Include:
  • Last Name, F. M.
  • (Year Published)
  • Book Title: Subtitle, Vol. # (issue number)
  • City,
  • State:
  • Publisher.

EXAMPLE LAYOUT FOR BOOK REFERENCE:

• Last Name, F. M. (Year Published) Book Title: Subtitle, Vol. # (issue number) City, State: Publisher.

REAL EXAMPLE OF BOOK REFERENCE: 

• Jane, M. G. (2017) To Be a Mouse, Vol. 2 (4th Ed.) Dallas, TX: Harbor House Publishing.

Remember: Whatever information you can get from each of your sources is what you use. It's not a requirement to seek out for all eternity the information you can't find by looking for it in the book or on the website. But it is a legal issue to not give credit to the people who helped you reach your conclusion and make your point. Don't shy away from citations or references because it looks like a lot of work - embrace them, because they give you credibility and a firm foundation for your readers!

Citations: 

Modig, D. Zeau. (2016, August 10). IIRP Graduate School Writing & APA Style Guidelines. Retrieved from http://www.iirp.edu/pdf/IIRP-APA-Guidelines.pdf.

Easybib. APA Formatting Rules for Your Paper. Retrieved from http://www.easybib.com/guides/students/writing-guide/iv-write/a-formatting/apa-paper-formatting/.

Paiz, J. M., Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., Brizee, A., Keck, R. (2017, November 11). Reference List: Electronic Sources (Web Publications). Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/.

(2011, March). MLA vs. APA. Retrieved from writingcenter.appstate.edu
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