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Successful Indie Author #4
Write Compelling Fiction: Tips, Tricks, & Hints with Examples to Strengthen Your Prose
Write cleaner. Write better stories. Write Compelling Fiction.
With over 150 books published, Larry Martin and Craig Martelle bring their fiction writing horsepower to you. How are they able to win over their readers? By getting them right where it matters – in books they can’t put down. Larry writes westerns and thriller. Craig writes science fiction. Those genres are far closer than you ever imagined because good writing is universal.
Never give your reader a reason to set your book aside. They may not pick it up again. In the immortal words of Elmore Leonard, “I try to leave out the parts that readers skip.” You should, too.
From plot to characters to pace to description, strengthen your writing to engage your readers on a whole new level. Keep them turning the pages, and when they’ve finished, they’ll be asking you for the next book.
The trail-tough cowhand rubbed the black whisker stubble on his chin with a knotted callused hand. "That'll do," Ethan said, and laid a nickel on the rough plank.A horse fly buzzed around, inspecting the coin, as Ethan waited.
With examples peppered throughout, Larry and Craig reinforce the main points in a way to make it easier to incorporate into your own writing. Come to the word buffet and when you leave, you won’t be hungry.
There’s no time like the present to start writing better. Pick up Write Compelling Fiction today.
With over 150 books published, Larry Martin and Craig Martelle bring their fiction writing horsepower to you. How are they able to win over their readers? By getting them right where it matters – in books they can’t put down. Larry writes westerns and thriller. Craig writes science fiction. Those genres are far closer than you ever imagined because good writing is universal.
Never give your reader a reason to set your book aside. They may not pick it up again. In the immortal words of Elmore Leonard, “I try to leave out the parts that readers skip.” You should, too.
From plot to characters to pace to description, strengthen your writing to engage your readers on a whole new level. Keep them turning the pages, and when they’ve finished, they’ll be asking you for the next book.
The trail-tough cowhand rubbed the black whisker stubble on his chin with a knotted callused hand. "That'll do," Ethan said, and laid a nickel on the rough plank.A horse fly buzzed around, inspecting the coin, as Ethan waited.
With examples peppered throughout, Larry and Craig reinforce the main points in a way to make it easier to incorporate into your own writing. Come to the word buffet and when you leave, you won’t be hungry.
There’s no time like the present to start writing better. Pick up Write Compelling Fiction today.
- GenresWritingNonfiction
187 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 28, 2008
139 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 2, 2021
Write Compelling Fiction by L.J.Martin and Craig Martelle is a non-fiction title offering hints and tips on how to write compelling fiction.
The Cover: The cover for this book is a typical non-fiction cover. With its bright yellow cover it stands out, yet sits nicely amongst the brand of books in this series of titles for indie authors. Personally, I don’t feel the image conveys the content of the book, but it does hint that it is to do with writing. The title confirms what to expect from this book and sits clearly on the cover with strong contrast and a nice clean font.
The Good Stuff: I found the content of this book to be on point. It covers a lot of ground on the key factors that make up good writing. It is done in an inspirational way, which is I have found to be a consistent theme with these titles. This book would be a good addition to any writer’s tool box, from beginner to veteran writer. If you do not learn anything new, at the very least it will serve as a reminder of the things to be aware of.
The Bad Stuff: The examples inside this title are mainly based on westerns (which makes sense as one of the authors writes in this genre.) I really wish it had been geared towards the fantasy genre, I think I would have enjoyed it so much more – but hey, you can’t always get what you want. There is some repetition, especially with the prose used to present the concepts and techniques, but again, this makes sense.
Overall, I found this to be a great book about the craft of writing that offers tried and tested techniques used in good writing. This one earns a page turning 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.
The Cover: The cover for this book is a typical non-fiction cover. With its bright yellow cover it stands out, yet sits nicely amongst the brand of books in this series of titles for indie authors. Personally, I don’t feel the image conveys the content of the book, but it does hint that it is to do with writing. The title confirms what to expect from this book and sits clearly on the cover with strong contrast and a nice clean font.
The Good Stuff: I found the content of this book to be on point. It covers a lot of ground on the key factors that make up good writing. It is done in an inspirational way, which is I have found to be a consistent theme with these titles. This book would be a good addition to any writer’s tool box, from beginner to veteran writer. If you do not learn anything new, at the very least it will serve as a reminder of the things to be aware of.
The Bad Stuff: The examples inside this title are mainly based on westerns (which makes sense as one of the authors writes in this genre.) I really wish it had been geared towards the fantasy genre, I think I would have enjoyed it so much more – but hey, you can’t always get what you want. There is some repetition, especially with the prose used to present the concepts and techniques, but again, this makes sense.
Overall, I found this to be a great book about the craft of writing that offers tried and tested techniques used in good writing. This one earns a page turning 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.
September 22, 2020
I was disappointed with this one as I have read a lot of Craig's work relating to self-publishing and found it very helpful. If you're a beginner writer and enjoy a conversational style, you might find this book useful. For me it was too basic and not very clear. I like my information concise and carefully chunked, which is probably why William Berhardt's Red Sneakers series and Chris Fox's writing books appeal to me. I also noticed a number of errors: incomplete sentences and missing words. I can usually figure out what the writer meant when this happens, but in this book there were a few cases where I couldn't understand the writer's intent. I don't think Martelle and Martin's teaching style is for me.
September 10, 2019
Larry Martin - Craig Martelle - Successful Indie Author Bk 4 - Write Compelling Fiction - Reviewed 9/9/19
Researching, writing, and rewriting resource for that BESTSELLER!
With over 150 books published, Larry Martin and Craig Martelle bring their fiction writing horsepower to you. How are they able to win over their readers? By getting them right where it matters – in books they can’t put down. Larry writes westerns and thriller. Craig writes science fiction. Those genres are far closer than you ever imagined because good writing is universal.
Your writing your first or even your 10th have you ever wondered why you received those rejection slips or you published one but can’t get over the hump to get another one out there. Maybe the problem is the way that you worded those pearls of thoughts that you thought were so great. From the plot to characters your goal is to get the reader to buy and keep buying. This book will help spell out the sections that you need to take a second, third or even tenth look at. Did it work? Will it keep the reader involved or will they put it down and never pick it up again? Did I do enough research or did I overkill it with too much information? Where do I go for the right kind of research? This gives you the suggestions for writing, rewriting and publishing to have your work to start paying for you.
What did I like? I am going to change my format of reviewing because this book demands it. I have never read a book that I couldn’t just speed right through and enjoy. I had to stop and really read this book because it was so interesting. I am not a writer but a reviewer and don’t have any thoughts as to writing in the future. You say well, what made you stop and read this with that kind of absorption? Not only was it interesting, funny but it was a learning curve that I was not expecting.
This is written with soft humor that made me feel so comfortable, yet direct and not that dry language that turns off the reader. Open and instructional with so many suggestions as to how to research, write, rewrite, including where to find the right kind of historical background information and which suggested resources and organizations to check out. All areas of the book, cover to cover, from the plot to the characters and what makes them all work and pull your book into that “BESTSELLER”!! In my humble opinion, I think every book reviewer needs to read this to help them understand the reasons that they did not like a part or heck even the whole book. Why did the book not ring true in their mind? I have never fully understood, I just knew instinctively that there was something off and I could never really put my finger on it.
One of the many benefits of this book for the nonauthors will be in helping them get their thoughts across in an attention-getting manner in their notes, letters, and reviews. I know that I have spent hours writing but when I look at it, read it out loud to myself or to someone else and think to my self, I can say this better! Am I getting my point across or it is stranded out there with no-one understanding what the point was? Too many adjectives, not enough or what happened to my subject, did it get lost? Not being an English major, accounting for me, I depend on grammatical software and sometimes it just does not say the same thing I was talking about. LOL! I think I learned more from this book than I ever have with any English class that I have ever taken.
Recently, I was asked to Beta Read a book and then afterward they asked me about publishing that same book that I fell in love with. I had no clue and I asked the author of this book to help this person. With no thought, they returned with “sure, always happy to help” This book gives help in simple layman's terms how to go about getting the job done. Now, of course, I didn’t say that it happens, I just stated that it shows you the roads to take, you have to get on the road and do it. Now I have a book that I can recommend with confidence that will give help in that direction.
This is a book that everyone should be reading, readers, reviewer, authors and it’s a keeper for resources and information for all. Understanding the work and how it all ticks makes the book all that more interesting, enjoyable and it will be read and reread, added to the digital library and the hardback reference book libraries for future use. Definitely going into mine and I will be using it for many years to come. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!
Researching, writing, and rewriting resource for that BESTSELLER!
With over 150 books published, Larry Martin and Craig Martelle bring their fiction writing horsepower to you. How are they able to win over their readers? By getting them right where it matters – in books they can’t put down. Larry writes westerns and thriller. Craig writes science fiction. Those genres are far closer than you ever imagined because good writing is universal.
Your writing your first or even your 10th have you ever wondered why you received those rejection slips or you published one but can’t get over the hump to get another one out there. Maybe the problem is the way that you worded those pearls of thoughts that you thought were so great. From the plot to characters your goal is to get the reader to buy and keep buying. This book will help spell out the sections that you need to take a second, third or even tenth look at. Did it work? Will it keep the reader involved or will they put it down and never pick it up again? Did I do enough research or did I overkill it with too much information? Where do I go for the right kind of research? This gives you the suggestions for writing, rewriting and publishing to have your work to start paying for you.
What did I like? I am going to change my format of reviewing because this book demands it. I have never read a book that I couldn’t just speed right through and enjoy. I had to stop and really read this book because it was so interesting. I am not a writer but a reviewer and don’t have any thoughts as to writing in the future. You say well, what made you stop and read this with that kind of absorption? Not only was it interesting, funny but it was a learning curve that I was not expecting.
This is written with soft humor that made me feel so comfortable, yet direct and not that dry language that turns off the reader. Open and instructional with so many suggestions as to how to research, write, rewrite, including where to find the right kind of historical background information and which suggested resources and organizations to check out. All areas of the book, cover to cover, from the plot to the characters and what makes them all work and pull your book into that “BESTSELLER”!! In my humble opinion, I think every book reviewer needs to read this to help them understand the reasons that they did not like a part or heck even the whole book. Why did the book not ring true in their mind? I have never fully understood, I just knew instinctively that there was something off and I could never really put my finger on it.
One of the many benefits of this book for the nonauthors will be in helping them get their thoughts across in an attention-getting manner in their notes, letters, and reviews. I know that I have spent hours writing but when I look at it, read it out loud to myself or to someone else and think to my self, I can say this better! Am I getting my point across or it is stranded out there with no-one understanding what the point was? Too many adjectives, not enough or what happened to my subject, did it get lost? Not being an English major, accounting for me, I depend on grammatical software and sometimes it just does not say the same thing I was talking about. LOL! I think I learned more from this book than I ever have with any English class that I have ever taken.
Recently, I was asked to Beta Read a book and then afterward they asked me about publishing that same book that I fell in love with. I had no clue and I asked the author of this book to help this person. With no thought, they returned with “sure, always happy to help” This book gives help in simple layman's terms how to go about getting the job done. Now, of course, I didn’t say that it happens, I just stated that it shows you the roads to take, you have to get on the road and do it. Now I have a book that I can recommend with confidence that will give help in that direction.
This is a book that everyone should be reading, readers, reviewer, authors and it’s a keeper for resources and information for all. Understanding the work and how it all ticks makes the book all that more interesting, enjoyable and it will be read and reread, added to the digital library and the hardback reference book libraries for future use. Definitely going into mine and I will be using it for many years to come. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!
February 26, 2013
Brilliant, is all I can say. This is a must read for all writers no matter what genre you delve into. This isn’t a typical, “how to guide.” It is a conversation from the author for providing excellent tips, insights and references for both new and old writers.
I thoroughly enjoyed the many examples Mr. Martin provides on how to make a dull sentence gripping and exciting. I will be referring back to the examples as I sharpen my skills.
Mr. Martin, thank you for wading through all the long-hair books on writing and kicking out a no nonsense view on the craft. Perhaps the title should be, “Even a Six Year Old Can Do It.” This is not a knock, but a compliment to the ease of understanding a very complex issue/
I highly recommend this work for all authors.
I thoroughly enjoyed the many examples Mr. Martin provides on how to make a dull sentence gripping and exciting. I will be referring back to the examples as I sharpen my skills.
Mr. Martin, thank you for wading through all the long-hair books on writing and kicking out a no nonsense view on the craft. Perhaps the title should be, “Even a Six Year Old Can Do It.” This is not a knock, but a compliment to the ease of understanding a very complex issue/
I highly recommend this work for all authors.
December 28, 2019
Very informative and full of helpful tips. Great for new authors and excellent as a reference for those already in the field.
The only downside I found was the author talked a little too much about his journey to becoming a high paying indie author, but I could see how that could help others put trust in his book. To me, it felt like he was trying a little too hard even though he didn't have to. The writing itself, his knowledge of the field, and the examples from his books already did the job.
The only downside I found was the author talked a little too much about his journey to becoming a high paying indie author, but I could see how that could help others put trust in his book. To me, it felt like he was trying a little too hard even though he didn't have to. The writing itself, his knowledge of the field, and the examples from his books already did the job.
June 6, 2021
I was less than impressed with this. They use a lot of examples from their own work. I don't know; it feels a bit like a GR author giving themselves five stars, you know?
HP is many things, but it is NOT urban fantasy.
Yeah nah. Dude, HP doesn't, so ... and I've read plenty of YF without romance.
NO. There are nine muses, and they preside over different areas of the arts.
2 stars
Take Urban Fantasy like Harry Potter. This is a huge genre with hungry readers across all age groups looking for the next big thing. (p. 28).
HP is many things, but it is NOT urban fantasy.
Urban Fantasy has romantic elements in it.
Yeah nah. Dude, HP doesn't, so ... and I've read plenty of YF without romance.
muse. The word is taken from Greek mythology. Muse was one of the nine daughters of Zeus who was said to reign or preside over the arts. She must have been a quiet, reflective girl. (p. 62).
NO. There are nine muses, and they preside over different areas of the arts.
2 stars
September 18, 2020
I am very sad to give this three stars because I really did want it to be better but the tips in it are very basic and the book itself is very fluffy. The tone is great and the examples are nice but I was disappointed overall given the promise the title makes.
December 7, 2022
some good advice from a different perspective
I’ve read a lot of books about the craft of writing and they all give similar advice. This one does as well but from the perspective of Westerns and Sci-fi which is less usual and makes for a good read because of the differences.
I’ve read a lot of books about the craft of writing and they all give similar advice. This one does as well but from the perspective of Westerns and Sci-fi which is less usual and makes for a good read because of the differences.
September 3, 2020
Great book on writing! I'll have to check out the others in this series.
February 23, 2021
Lots of information packed into one book. It has some great universal tips for increasing tension, pacing action, and making a story read smoothly.
June 26, 2021
Good book, I got a lot out of it.,.
July 19, 2021
Write Compelling Fiction by LJ Martin and Craig Martelle is jam-packed full of tips that will write page-turning fiction. You get it; the book does exactly what it says on the tin. I read this book purely for the author's tips on transitioning between scenes. Overall, I learned a few practical tips that I’ll be putting into practice during my upcoming revisions.
February 22, 2025
This is a (gem) non-fiction book and an essential read for any aspiring crime fiction author who plans to become a successful independently published author.
September 20, 2019
I love the Successful Indie Author series. As a new Indie author, I find myself learning a lot from these books. I highlight passages, I pull out quotes and make notes on the things I learn to improve both my craft and my business. A helpful and great read!
March 20, 2020
One of the best books on the craft I’ve read. I thought it was a bit light on content initially but it was just warming up. Some really great examples to illustrate the points the authors were making.
October 23, 2019
A lot of valuable information in this book.
I would suggest keeping a pack of post-its next to you while reading it so you can create a nice decoration around your writing-screen.
I would suggest keeping a pack of post-its next to you while reading it so you can create a nice decoration around your writing-screen.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews