Most stories can be divided into Acts. Some swear by a 3-act structure, others by 4, but regardless of how you break down a movie or book, Act 1 is an introduction to the characters, the world, and the problem, and Act 2 is when the hero gets into the action. Act 2 is where…
Author: E.K.Thiede
I'm a writer, former teacher, mother of tiny humans, fast talker, and a northern transplant who now lives in central Virginia. Things I love: books, people who care deeply about things, dance parties with my kids, espresso, and big squashy armchairs.
I edit my novels constantly, but not my blog posts, so don't expect brilliant wordplay here. Welcome to my brain! It's messy and disorganized but never boring.
The world is a dumpster fire-Don’t you want happy stories?
I keep hearing that consumers want “lighter fare” and escapism in their media. The world is a mess, people say, so people crave stories that take them to a happier place. And yet, dystopian and dark fantasy continue to do really well, and many of the top television shows, movies, and books right now take…
Welcome, Em Shotwell!
You’re in for a treat today, friends! A guest post by the lovely Em Shotwell, my friend and fellow PitchWars mentee. Read all about her new release, below! Welcome, Em! Down here, we have a saying: “Here in the south we don’t hide our crazy, we parade it around on the front porch and give…
So Shiny!
Is there anything a writer loves more than a new, shiny story idea? Well, maybe a book deal. But, on the creative side, a new story idea, freshly imagined, is pretty high up there on the list of things that get us excited. Like all writers, I, too, love a shiny new idea, but as…
YA Books I loved in 2017
I’ve considered doing book reviews in the past, but I don’t have the heart to negatively review anyone else’s work, so instead I’m just going to tell you about some of the books I really like, and some of the many I am excited to read soon! Here are a few of the (YA) books…
What a Month
It just occurred to me that one month ago, I had NEVER queried or pitched a book, and since then I’ve done nothing BUT pitch and query my book. And occasionally sleep. Occasionally. I didn’t dip a toe into the water of querying-PitchWars threw me off the dock into the deep end. And while it’s…
Space
PitchWars 2017 has come to a close, NaNoWriMo wrapped up a few days ago, and many agents are closing their submissions inboxes until January. For me, this means a bit of blessed silence. I’m not sending out any more queries until January and I’m putting my NaNoWriMo draft away for a few weeks to mentally…
Throwing Darts, Blindfolded
Alternate title: What I learned from entering a bunch of mentorship contests. Hey writer people. I know it’s been another tumultuous week in the world of aspiring writers, with the most recent round of Author Mentor Match mentees announced yesterday. First, congratulations to all the writers chosen! I hope this is the beginning of an…
Writing for Change
I’ve been playing catch-up over the past week. As usual, I’m spending my birthday month participating in NaNoWriMo, trying to churn out 50,000 words in 30 days. I fell behind during the PitchWars agent round- can you blame me?- but I’m clawing my way back. To motivate myself, I’ve joined a challenge called The Mighty…
How does this work, exactly?
This post is for people who are writer-adjacent, the friends and family of writers (hi, friends and family!) or for people who are new to writing and still trying to figure out how this whole process works. So, for my experienced query-warriors, you may mosey on past this post if you’d like to. With the…