Writers often wrestle with a familiar question: How true does this story need to be? Some argue that every detail should align perfectly with reality to maintain credibility. Others believe storytelling is about emotional truth, so bending facts for the sake of a compelling narrative is fair game.
he “selling water” metaphor stands for taking a simple idea—maybe an everyday observation or a universal theme—and showcasing it to readers in a way that feels immediately relevant.
At its core, this dilemma boils down to how you tackle revisions. The “one sweep” approach suggests you can solve every structural flaw, remove extraneous characters, and polish dialogue in one heroic editing pass. The “small tweaks” method encourages you to edit in layers, focusing on one aspect of craft at a time—like pacing—before moving on to another—like character development.
Your next move is simple: pick one writing challenge you’ve conquered—or are in the process of conquering—and craft a step-by-step solution others can follow. Then share it. Not only will you help fellow writers, but you’ll solidify your own methods and stand out as a voice of experience. What how-to guide will you create today?
No matter how you incorporate a “live” element—whether through serialized posts, candid updates, or subtle immediacy in your prose—the result is a deeper connection.
Imagine the first chapter of your novel as an invitation to a grand party—you don’t have to reveal everything at once, but you do want to tease the best parts of what’s to come. You want your readers to stay, mingle, and grow curious about the other rooms in the house.
The more often you write, the more “accidents” you’ll experience.
Writers of every stripe face these evolving rules. Novelists who once relied on brick-and-mortar bookstores might scramble to master online marketing. Essayists might see traditional literary magazines fold and get replaced by digital publications.
Here’s a secret: constraints don’t have to curb your imagination. They can shape it in remarkable ways. When you face limitations—like a word count restriction or limited tech know-how—you’re forced to get creative.
It’s easy to believe your words won’t matter—especially with so many voices shouting for attention. But here’s the truth: Your writing can make a difference, even if it’s one reader at a time. When you write with authenticity and purpose, you create ripples. Maybe you...
If you’re not sure where to start, pick a specific element of craft to level up. Maybe you’ll focus on creating more vivid sensory details, or building tension more effectively. Then, measure your progress by reviewing your older pieces. Can you see evidence of improvement? Celebrate those mini-victories, and then set a new goal.
The right lens helps you see potential, not just flaws. And once you see potential, you can shape it into something remarkable.
Our first Asengana giveaway – 1940 Corona Flat Top typewriter – is over. We are contacting now the winner and will post updates once is confirmed.
Take the Corona Flat Top typewriter from the 1940s – not just a relic, but a symbol of storytelling’s golden era.
The Asengana Research Assistant, powered by Chat GPT, offers a monthly allocation of free tokens to facilitate your research needs.
Writing every day is a powerful tool that can help writers to achieve their goals. Whether you’re an aspiring writer or an established author, making writing a daily habit is an essential step in becoming a successful and productive writer. So, set aside some time each day to write, and experience the benefits for yourself.
As you begin to write your novel, it can be helpful to have all of your notes and research gathered in one place. By using a world-building wiki approach for your book research, you can easily keep track of all the different aspects of the world you are creating. As you add new information, you can simply add it to the appropriate page on your wiki. This will help you to keep your world building consistent and easy to reference as you write. Plus, by making your research available to others, you may even get some helpful feedback that can improve your story. So why not give it a try? You might be surprised at how helpful a world-building Research Notes module can be.
There are many factors to consider when choosing the best novel writing software for authors and how the Asengana manuscript module can be a better writing tool than a simple word processor.
One of the key performance indicators for the improvement of a user interaction is very simple: fewer clicks or fewer pages than before. This is what we did with the current update: create a one-page for editing scenes and chapter details and a simpler more intuitive Manuscript Menu for every book/project.
These templates will help keep your project organized by setting deadlines and managing different tasks in one place. Give Asengana’s free story templates a try!
While the dream settings for writing are a quiet, temperature controlled, wall to wall book shelves personal workspace, inspiration comes anywhere.
If you are thinking of writing a book, but don’t know where to start or how to organize your thoughts, Asengana’s Story Templates are a great way to get started.
The templates come in three different formats: Novel, Novella, and Short Story – so you can choose the one that best suits your needs! The template will provide an outline for each scene with suggested plot points such as “Inciting Incident” or “Climax” which makes it easy if this is somehow new territory in creating story structure. You can create your project from scratch by entering content into each scene. With these templates, it’s easy to set up your planned Start Date and Finish Date so that you stay on track with your goals!
