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Featuring everything new and experienced authors need to develop creative and technical skills. Check out writing development articles, our Word of the Day, writing prompts, anthology opportunities and more!

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Writing Tips - Events

Introducing Sex Into Your Story

There are two schools of learning when it comes to writing erotica...some people want a full story with drama and tension and build up...and some people are rock hard already and want to find something hot to get off to! Hehehe, and sometimes we understandably flip flop from one to the other. Depends on the mood, I suppose. But if your writing a story, and you label it as 'erotica'...just keep in mind that no matter how intriguing the story is, no matter how adorable your characters are, or how
Writing Tips - Events

Foreshadowing

I believe that one of the biggest tricks you can ever hope to pull off in writing a story is the art of foreshadowing, which is a LOT more challenging than you might think it is. This is due to the fact that you have to be able to set up a series of major events in advance...without letting your readers know what those events are ahead of time. In fact, you don't even want your audience to know that you're doing it at all until you get the pleasure of landing that 'zing' moment upon them later o
Writing Tips - Events

Plot Holes

There are five words that always make me laugh whenever I watch one of the videos from the Youtube series below, hehehe! Because it's SO true for every story and every TV show and every movie that I've ever seen! And it's true for your work too. Can't help but to get a few chuckles out of it! Those five words? "Super easy! Barely an inconvenience!" Don't worry, an explanation is coming. One thing that I hope many of you will take from this week's discussion is the idea that a
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Writing Tips - Events

The Slow Burn

The Slow Burn One of the elements of a really good story that we’ve discussed before on this board had to deal with ‘pacing’. Now, while it seems like such a thing should feel natural and almost effortless to some writers...it’s actually not that way for everybody. In fact, it’s a very delicate balance that I feel should be recognized and respected when it comes to putting a story together in a way that could be considered ‘effective’ when it comes to getting your message and your emotions a
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Writing Tips - Events

Peaks and Valleys

Raise your hand if you′ve been on a roller coaster before! Hehehe, I′m just kidding. It′s the internet, I can′t see you raising your hand! Trust me, if I could set up spy cameras around you, it would be in the shower...not next to your laptop! ::Giggles:: Seriously, though...when riding a roller coaster, you experience certain peaks and valleys. You slow down in certain sections of the ride, left anticipating the next big ′dip′ with baited breath...and then everything speeds up and races t
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Writing Tips - Events

Creating Dread

Now, when I talk about creating a sense of 'dread' in your writing, whether it be drama, thriller, horror, sci-fi, or romance...I'm not always talking about something life threatening or earth shattering every single time. It's not about action. It's not about gore, or heartbreak, or terror. The concept of dread, in my opinion, is much more evident in its subtlety than in its delivery of some major occurrence or surprise twist. The most effective way to use 'dread' in your stories is as a build
Writing Tips - Events

Writing Tip: Conflict Is Key

ANNOUNCEMENT: Please welcome GayAuthors.org's newest Hosted Author: David McLeod. David has been a Promising Author here and has a great body of work - hope you check it out!   Sorry for the slight delay this morning, got caught up in one too many phone calls. Sometimes, conflict can be a burden, or - as Libby Drew helps point out, it can be the key to great writing. We hope you enjoy this latest writing tip - let us know some other ideas for conflict that you think could be effective. As alwa
Writing Tips - Events

Cliffhangers

You know, there's a quote that says that jealousy in a loving relationship is a lot like salt in your food. Just enough can enrich and enhance flavor, but too much can bitter the taste. I think that, when it comes to putting cliffhangers in your stories, perhaps from chapter to chapter, or maybe even from completed novel to completed novel...the same rule applies. I mean, sure, you can write cliffhangers all day long if you really wanted to...but it can get tiresome in the long run. In fact, I t
Writing Tips - Events

The Neverending Story

The Neverending Story Last Summer (In late June, early July)...I lost one of the best friends that I’ve ever had before in my life. We had known each other since the fist grade, and shared a life of late nights, movies, video games, and laughing until we fell over holding our stomachs with tears in our eyes. He was the kind of friend that you only make or twice in a lifetime...and one day, he was just...’gone’. Went to bed, heart failure in his sleep, and that was that. A huge part of me was
Writing Tips - Events

Sexual Pacing

Oh yeah, I'm bringing out the dreaded 'S' word for this one! Hehehe, calm down...take a few breaths...and smile for me, k? I won't make it too painful for you to read. Promise. Loosen up a little bit, geez. Now...I've been writing for over 20 years in the gay erotica genre. And thanks to Myr and the folks at GayAuthors, I KNOW that a vast majority of you guys read the sexy stuff on this site! Polls don't lie! LOL! It was something that I was actually kind of curious about, as trends change
Writing Tips - Events

Plot Twists

I believe that one of the best ways to spice up a certain type of story, depending on what you happen to be writing at the moment...is to grab your audience and turn them upside down with an effective plot twist. As many of you have heard me say in past articles...the readers that you are doing your very best to entertain are much more savvy and experienced when it comes to reading fiction these days. This is the information age, and things keep speeding up. You're not speaking to folks with a l
Writing Tips - Events

Creating and Escalating Tension

Now, while many readers that get truly involved with the stories we write online are mostly involved in the sometimes exaggerated drama of the situations we put our main characters through...I feel that it is often the tension delivered in a few key scenes, sprinkled here and there throughout, that truly captivates a reader's attention and brings them to the edge of their seats. It's this grinding on the nerves, along with a few tugs on the heart strings, that can really allow your audience to l
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Writing Tips - Events

Violence

Violence All stories...or at least the interesting and memorable ones...have one thing in common. And that is an element of conflict. There has to be some sort of motivation for your protagonist to chase after, a goal has to be established, and the conflict is whatever obstacle or antagonist that stands between the two of them. Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. Ok, but where’s the story in that? Maybe there’s heavy traffic that makes crossing the road a dangerous
Writing Tips - Events

Kill The Dog

Hehehe, you know when I was in college, I had a writing teacher that had a somewhat comical, but very true, rule to follow when it came to getting your audience to truly feel a moment of intense emotional pain in your project. Works every time. He used to say, "If you want to make your audience cry...kill the dog!" And, yes, he meant that literally. Script wise, anyway. You can have Rambo gun down an army of enemies in a foreign land, or have Iron Man burn a bunch of terrorists to ashe
Writing Tips - Events

Sub-plots

One thing that I've discovered while writing my own stories over the years, is the 'lacking' presence of added depth when I only have one situation going on from beginning to end. Now, this may be just a personal preference of mine...but when I'm focused on two boys and one issue, the theme of the story itself feels really basic and seems to fall 'flat' to me sometimes. Like something is missing. Nothing major, really...but it's similar to a cook tasting their food and thinking, "Hmmmm...I need
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Writing Tips - Events

Climaxes

It’s the weekend again! So...let’s talk about climaxes! Wait! Not THAT kind of climax! Stay out of the gutter! Geez! We’re talking about story story climaxes. This is the grand finale to your story! This is the big finish! This is where you’re able to give your readers the big pay off that they’ve been waiting for since they got hooked on those first few sentences of your story. A story’s climax can really make or break a wonderfully written project, depending on how well it work
Writing Tips - Events

First Kiss

No matter how hot and steamy the sex may get between your main character and his love interest later on in your story...sometimes the sweetest and most explosive moment of all comes from that very first kiss. Even if your characters are older and it's not their first kiss ever...it's that first delicate connection with the guy you're passing off as his perfect counterpart. If done right, a first kiss between characters can be just as erotic as every other part of your story, if not more so.
Writing Tips - Events

Generic

Generic The thing about writing stories is that we all kind of build on our earliest experiences with the art of storytelling itself. Whether we were writing them ourselves, reading them out of a book, or having long cherished fairy tales read or told to us as children. We absorb it through the movies and TV shows we watch, or hear those particular cues, twists, and turns, in the tales someone might tell us at work about their weekend, or maybe at the family barbecue. We have learned to acc
Writing Tips - Events

Subverting Expectations

Subverting Expectations You ever see one of those race car lengths on a full track, with everybody is trying to get ahead of their other opponents? And there's more to it all than just slamming your foot on the gas pedal and going faster than everybody else. There's a strategy involved. A little gas here, a little brake there, how you take certain turns, etc. So...you've got somebody ahead of you, and you're trying to find your way around them so you can move up from fourth to third place. A
Writing Tips - Events

Plot Armor

::Old Timey Radio Voice:: "Lois is trapped underground and tied up next to the bomb! Jimmy Olsen is being held captive by the gangsters from the underground syndicate! And Clark Kent can't leave the Daily Bugle in time to rescue them without giving away his secret identity!!! Can Superman possibly HOPE to save the day??? Hehehe...umm, of course he can! He's freakin' Superman! Duh! I remember being in the college dorms with my roommates and some of our friends, discussing which ch
Writing Tips - Events

Catharsis

Catharsis Every now and then, I like to ask my fellow writing colleagues on this website or in my emails this question, because it really does vary from person to person, from age to age, and from culture to culture. And sometimes, depending what era of time we happen to be living in can make a huge difference. Emails and online forums have given way to text messages and social media, hot encounters of fictional sex and shallow beauty has given way to extended and meaningful storytelling and
Writing Tips - Events

Importance Of Continuity

Importance Of Continuity Believe it or not...well, you probably do...hehehe, I used to be MUCH worse about story continuity in my own work! I mean, as hard as I tried, it was always a difficult task trying to keep everything all together the way I really wanted to. And that was while I was working with handwritten NOTES to help guide me and keep me on track. (Keep an eye out for my article on personal story notes soon!) But that’s one of the traps of trying to keep all of your story’s detail
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Writing Tips - Events

Intimacy

Intimacy In order to really connect your readers to the romantic stories that you write, you’ve got to keep in mind that it’s not always some giant swing of the pendulum that brings the mood and the tone from one extreme to the other. I think that it’s important to be able to recognize opportunities for all of those little giddy moments in between that can sometimes come off as being your biggest strengths. In fact, I’ve found that they can end up being the most touching and engaging parts o
Writing Tips - Events

Story Arcs

Beginning. Middle. End. Setup. Conflict. Resolution. All stories have a certain formula to them. That formula can be played with, rearranged, and altered, in a variety of different ways...but even that has some form of structure, when you sit down and think about it. Straying from a conventional method of telling a story doesn't mean that the original blueprint doesn't exist. We just choose to find a way of subverting expectations concerning the norm. A norm that set the standard for u
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Loose Ends

Loose Ends There is one thing that I think can be horrendously frustrating in a story! And I’m guilty of doing it a few times, myself, despite my efforts to avoid it at all costs...because it makes you want to tear your own hair out at the roots! Hehehe, but for one reason or another...I changed my mind on a few major plot points in my story that took me in a different direction, and it left a lot of plot points left to dangle without any answers. Now that I’m re-doing my stories to put them
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