First Draft Friday: Conversations about author craft

Bestselling author Maria Luis will share how to use your location in the same way that you do your characters – to help bring your book to life!

USA Today bestselling romance author Penny Reid and Authors A.I. CEO Alessandra Torre discuss self-editing. Penny will share the steps she takes in her own self-edit process.

In a special Halloween episode of First Draft Friday, we are joined by cozy mystery authors Sara Rosett and Tonya Kappes.

Most writers are familiar with the concept of the three-act structure. But a deep dive into story composition shows that it is more accurate to look at most novels in terms of four acts.

Don’t have time (or the will) to create detailed book outlines in advance? Paranormal romance/urban fantasy author Steffanie Holmes will share her skeleton draft method. Steff writes a first draft for a book in a few days without any kind of plan or outline.

Authors Alessandra Torre and Andy Maslen discuss creating complex characters on First Draft Friday.  Learn the art of creating complex, believable, three-dimensional characters, starting with your protagonist and antagonist from a bestselling British crime and thriller author.

Veteran authors Judith Lucci and Fiona Quinn discuss a little-known technique they use to harness memory, sensory perception and logic to build engrossing characters and scenes.

What are the benefits of working with a professional book editor? Editor, Jason Kirk, and fantasy author, Charlie Holmberg, discuss the long-term benefits of working with a professional book editor. Learn how good editors can teach authors to “fish” and improve their self-editing skills with each succeeding manuscript.

Dr. Matthew Jockers talks with author Alessandra Torre about how A.I. can help authors in the rewrite process.

James Rosone discusses how he uses A.I. to improve his novel’s story beats with Alessandra Torre and JD Lasica. James Rosone, a bestselling military thriller author, recently turned to writing a military sci-fi series. Learn how he uses artificial intelligence to help his storytelling at key parts of the rewrite process.