Greetings Storytellers, Diana here with another thrilling post on punctuation. This is my last post of 2025, so I’ll see you in 2026 with the last of the series: Question Marks, Periods, and Exclamation Points! I know you can’t wait! Today, we’re doing a second deep dive into the wild wilderness of commas. Cover your … Continue reading Punctuation Part IX: Commas, Part Two| Story Empire
Greetings, SE’ers. This is my last post in the series on colors and how they can help us show characters’ personality traits, as well as how they can enhance settings. I am ending with white. White is the lightest on the color spectrum and indicates purity, innocence, and integrity. It is worn by high priests … Continue reading Colors and how they can enhance characters and settings #9 – #white| Story Empire
There have been times when I’ve been writing that a word has come to mind that is not an actual word. Splarsh, for example, turned out to be my union of splash and splursh. No such word. And I’ve made up a lot of words playing Scrabble. One of my favorite invented words … Continue reading HAVE YOU EVER INVENTED A NEW WORD IN YOUR WRITING?| Story Empire
Choosing a Publication Method Greetings! Liz Gauffreau here with Part 3 of my series for emerging writers who have always wanted to write a novel but don’t know where to start. In Part 1, I discussed the external context for writing a novel and outlined the decisions you will need to make on your path to … Continue reading So You Want to Write a Novel: Part 3 of 4 Choosing a Publication Method| Story Empire
Hi SEers! Denise here to discuss the scare factor in a story, as Halloween is just around the corner. This is an updated version with a new event from a previous scary post. We’ve all had that terr…| Story Empire
5 posts published by D.L. Finn, Author, D. Wallace Peach, Liz Gauffreau, Author Jan Sikes, and Beem Weeks during July 2025| Story Empire
Canadians give thanks for their blessings on the second Monday of October. The tradition began in 1879 and was made an official holiday in 1957. It is rooted in the British and European harvest festivals. Celebrations include festive suppers, often on the Sunday rather than the actual holiday. Foods include turkey with stuffing, cranberries, mashed … … Continue reading →| Story Empire
Greetings! Beem Weeks here again. This month, my post is for those who may be in the early stages of their writing journey. We’re looking at POV. Point of view (POV) is the perspective from which a story is told. It shapes how readers experience the narrative and influences the tone, intimacy, and clarity of … … Continue reading →| Story Empire
A book with no reviews is dead. I recently read that statement in a blog post by an indie author about the scarcity of reviews. The blogger also expressed the opinion that a book with no reviews is invisible to the ever-busy algorithms that govern the internet, and is therefore invisible to readers. I’m not … … Continue reading →| Story Empire
New writers receive so much advice early in their journey, the last thing they need is inaccurate advice from a bot. Imagine if you hadn’t established your community, hadn’t befriended even one writer friend, you might turn to AI to guide you in the right direction. In this series, I’ll show you why this is … … Continue reading →| Story Empire
Hello everyone! As a new contributor here on Story Empire, I thought I would start with a post combining my two areas of expertise: fiction, and factual information about horses. Why? Because lots …| Story Empire
5 posts published by coldhandboyack, Joy York, Nicholas C. Rossis, Pat Spencer, and D. Wallace Peach during September 2025| Story Empire
Hi, gang. ✋ Craig here today. Years ago I came up with the idea for some extra posts that take a deeper dive into some of my topics. I stole these from video games and call them Expansion Packs. As…| Story Empire
Posted by Joy York This isn’t a very scientific subject, but one I have found myself pondering. I personally read a lot of books. Although I read and enjoy multiple genres, my favorites have strong…| Story Empire
Romance is a growing genre for both men and women, challenging stereotypes about readers and writers. With 22% of romance readers being male, we are seeing diverse narratives and hybrid forms like …| Story Empire
by Pat Spencer This post is for new writers, experienced writers, and folks who wonder how authors create stories that transport readers back to the padded shoulders, tinned meat, love, and loss of…| Story Empire
Greetings Storytellers, Diana here with another riveting post on punctuation. We’re getting close to wrapping this series up! This one is “dense”—not in the thick-headed sense—but…| Story Empire
Greetings to one and all. Beem Weeks back with you again. This month, I’m looking at the ever-changing technological landscape of audiobook production. The landscape of audiobook narration is evolv…| Story Empire
5 posts published by Audrey Driscoll, Sue Coletta, coldhandboyack, Joy York, and Nicholas C. Rossis during August 2025| Story Empire
As with Part 1, this post was inspired provoked by a post on another blog. That post asks whether indie authors should refrain from publishing in order to give their fellow authors’ works a better …| Story Empire
All our links need to work. Especially buy links. What if the link to your new release prevents your ARC readers from leaving reviews on Amazon? What if the link prevents all potential re…| Story Empire
Hi, gang. ✋ Craig here again. We’re continuing my series dive into the speculative genres. Today we’re tackling Low Fantasy. First of all, let me go on record as hating the name. I know how it happ…| Story Empire
Posted by Joy York Over the years, I have read many books and seen many films referred to a “noir.” They have always been a bit of a mystery to me. I found them dark, edgy, and disturbing, usually …| Story Empire
5 posts published by Nicholas C. Rossis, D. Wallace Peach, Author Jan Sikes, Liz Gauffreau, and D.L. Finn, Author during May 2025| Story Empire
One of my weirdest (read: creepiest) experiences with my daughter involves a medieval monster. How, you ask? Well, as a months-old baby, she had trouble sleeping. I would take her in my arms and pa…| Story Empire
Hello, SE’ers!!! It’s Jan here again with another deep dive into a specific color and how we can use it to show more about our characters or enhance our settings in fiction writing. Tod…| Story Empire
Greetings to one and all. Beem Weeks here with you again. This month, I’m looking at the difference between inspiration and craft. Though they are not the same, both are integral parts of co…| Story Empire
I am delighted to join the Story Empire team, and I hope readers will find my first post enjoyable and interesting. Do you call yourself an indie author? A while ago, I read a post by a fellow blog…| Story Empire
During the Fourth of July weekend, many folks were on the road, listening to music or daydreaming while stuck in traffic. Nothing at all interesting about it. Though we want our stories to mimic re…| Story Empire
Greetings, Storytellers. Diana, here, to share some exciting changes. At some point, most of us realize that the craft of writing requires us to be lifelong learners. With that in mind, Story Empir…| Story Empire
Hi, gang. ✋ Craig here again. We’re continuing my series dive into the speculative genres. Today we’re going to look at High Fantasy. High Fantasy remains a popular genre, and it has some requireme…| Story Empire
The conversation about critical distance doesn’t come up often in writing circles. If someone does raise the point, critical distance is usually mentioned in passing as though other writers should …| Story Empire
You need a crystal ball to know what publishers like to publish. Some stories pick up interest and become trendy, while others, seemingly catchy, never make it to the final line. Publishers always …| Story Empire
Greetings Storytellers, Diana’s back again with another smokin’ post on the hot topic of punctuation, specifically—the apostrophe! This one’s fairly straightforward . . . though, as usual, I’ve a f…| Story Empire
Greetings, friends! It’s Jan here with another look at a color and how we might use it in our fiction writing. Purple is a deep and intriguing blend of red and blue, both opposites as red is …| Story Empire
Greetings, Storytellers! Diana here for Part III of our punctuation review. So far we’ve covered the colon and its neighbor, the semicolon. Now I plan to dazzle you with dashes! G…| Story Empire
As a published fantasy author, I’ve spent countless hours crafting intricate worlds, designing magic systems, and plotting the rise and fall of empires. But I’m here to tell you a secre…| Story Empire
Greetings, Storytellers! Diana here for Part II of punctuation. Last month, I had you on the edge of your seats as we reviewed the impactful colon. Since it’s related, I thought we’d ju…| Story Empire
Greetings, SE’ers. This is the second post in my new series about how different colors can enhance our work. Today, I’m exploring Yellow. The first thing I think of when I think of the …| Story Empire
Images: BookBrush Greetings! Liz Gauffreau with you today. I don’t know about other readers, but at times a novel will strain my credulity when I find myself asking: Doesn’t this guy ha…| Story Empire
Greetings, Storytellers! Diana, here, to start a series of posts on punctuation. Yes, it’s mind-numbingly tedious, but it’s important to know, especially for those who edit t…| Story Empire
Greetings, SE’ers! I’m happy to begin a new year with a whole new series to share with you. Over the next months I will be delving deep into different colors and talking about how we ca…| Story Empire
Revisiting The Writing Process Greetings! Liz Gauffreau with you today, thinking about how a discussion of the writing process for fiction might help you in the development of your first, current, …| Story Empire
Greetings to one and all within the reading and writing community! Beem Weeks here with you again. This month I’d like to talk a little about transforming your characters. What exactly do I mean wh…| Story Empire
Hi gang! Craig with you once more. A few years back I wrote about including Easter Eggs in your work. It’s a fun nod to something from your past that your long term fans might get a kick out of. Th…| Story Empire
Critique Groups As I began to write my first book, The Bloody Shoe Affair, the characters and story flowed like a river. I loved it, but I didn’t have any idea if anyone else would. The first thing…| Story Empire
Greetings, friends! It’s Jan here again with another word list that I hope you’ll find helpful in your writing endeavors. Today’s common word is ‘Looked/Saw.’ Created …| Story Empire
