Nonfiction

Below are books I’ve written to help writers.

The goal of writing fiction should be to tell a story so compelling the reader has a hard time putting the book down. Over the course of eight years and fifty-three romances, Ruth Ann Nordin has picked up some practical tips for improving the storytelling craft. These are tips she shares in this short book.

The topics included in this book are as follows:

1. Starting With An Idea
2. Picking Your Genre
3. The Proper Use of Backstory
4. Point of View
5. Characters are the Heart of the Story
6. Your Setting (aka World): The Character is Always Key
7. When You Get Stuck
8. If the Scene Doesn’t Add to the Plot, Throw It Out
9. If You Never Finish a Story
10. There Is No Perfect Time To Write, So Write Today
11. Polishing Up Your Book

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If you’re writing fiction, one of the most important investments you can make is in your characters. They are the glue that holds your story together. Without them, the reader has no reason to keep reading. If you want to write a compelling story, your characters need to be so real that they engage with the reader on an emotional level. The purpose of this book is to help you do that.

The topics covered in this book are as follows:

1. The importance of writing what you’re passionate about
2. Why you should know your characters more intimately than your readers ever will
3. How to incorporate bias, imperfection, and things unknown into the character’s point of view
4. Why the character is always right
5. Making the character “react” instead of “act”
6. Why the character should influence plot, setting, and conflict (instead of the other way around)
7. Tempting the character to the point they might break
8. Delving into emotions
9. How supporting characters can enhance the main character’s journey

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In the writing community, writing to market has become a huge sensation. A lot of authors are so busy focusing on making money that the idea of writing for passion has fallen to the wayside. Many authors are writing books they don’t really love as fast as they can in order to maximize their income. The result? They are facing burn out. Some more so than others, but there is a good number of authors who are physically and mentally exhausted. And, on top of that, they are losing the joy in writing.

Ruth Ann Nordin has been through this. She began publishing romances in 2009. In the beginning, she wrote for passion, but eventually, she ended up embracing the writing-to-market mindset. She faced serious burn out in 2018. She was a wreck. There were two options she faced at this time. One she could stop writing completely, or two, she could learn how to get her passion back. Today, she’s writing for passion, and she’s much happier. In this book, she shares the pitfalls of writing to market and why writing for passion is ultimately the better option.

Included in this book are these topics:

1. How writing to market replaced writing for passion in the indie community
2. A comparison of writing to market and writing for passion
3. Why writing to market kills creativity in the long run
4. Why the pursuit of money will never make you happy
5. Why seeking outside validation for happiness can be dangerous
6. How to find your passion (if you don’t already know what it is)
7. Why focusing on storytelling is important
8. Why perfection is a myth
9. How to overcome your fear of failure
10. What to do if others want you to write a book but you don’t
11. A quick look at building a financially solid foundation so you can keep writing in the future

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Usually, when people talk about publishing schedules, they are looking for tips and tricks to get more books out in a year in order to maximize sales. This is not that kind of book.

Writing should be something we can enjoy. Taking on too much can lead to burnout, and burnout can ruin your joy. This book is for writers who want to write and publish at a comfortable pace that they can sustain for the long term.

It doesn’t matter how many books you get out per year. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fast writer or a slow writer. What matters is that you figure out your sweet spot. This book is intended to work with you. I’ve been publishing ebooks since 2009, and I’ve published just over 100 between this name and my pen name. The key to setting up a realistic publishing schedule is to go at your pace, whatever pace that may be.

Topics in this book include the following:

1. Creating a Schedule that is Right for You
2. Forming a Routine
3. Is it Possible to Write Fast and Have Quality Content?
4. What if You Don’t Feel Like Writing?
5. When You Have Trouble Finishing Your Book(s)

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