August | 2025 | Story Empire
5 posts published by Audrey Driscoll, Sue Coletta, coldhandboyack, Joy York, and Nicholas C. Rossis during August 2025| 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 chance of being discovered in an environment of too many substandard books. Citation: Joel Bresler, “Are Authors Obligated to Anyone … Continue reading Indie Author Culture. Part 2: Our Obligations| 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 readers from leaving reviews on Amazon? Or worse, Amazon shuts down your account because you’re violating their rules. It happens more often than you … Continue reading How To Clean Dirty Book Links| 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 happened. High Fantasy received its grant name first, so what should the powers call the other version. (If one … Continue reading Low Fantasy| 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 pace the room. This would calm her down for a bit, then she would stare out the window and start crying … Continue reading Beyond Dragons: 7 Bizarre Medieval Monsters to Inspire Your Next Fantasy Novel| Story Empire
Greetings Storytellers, Diana here with an utterly mesmerizing post on the topic of quotation marks, both the single and double variety, their rules, and how to use them with other forms of punctuation. Easy breezy, right? This is another straightforward bit of punctuation, but like all punctuation, it has its quirks. Hopefully, my romantic little … Continue reading Punctuation Part VII: Quotation Marks| Story Empire
Hi SEers! Denise here to talk about where indie authors can sell their books. For most authors, Amazon is the most popular platform for selling ebooks and print books. Kindle Direct Publishing is the first place I go when releasing a book. They’ve simplified the process and provide book cover support. They also offer a … Continue reading Where to Sell Books| Story Empire
Noelle Granger here with my first post on Story Empire. Over my next few posts, I hope to add “Food” to your writing menu. I don’t know about you, but reading about food in a novel adds a delightful element if the description is compelling. Descriptions of food not only illustrate the setting or period … Continue reading INTRODUCING FOOD TO YOUR WIP| Story Empire
Introduction Greetings! Liz Gauffreau with you today to introduce a four-part series for emerging writers who have always wanted to write a novel but don’t know where to start. I’ll be presenting a selection of Story Empire articles to help you get started on your path to authorship—without drowning in the online tsunami of how-to … Continue reading So You Want to Write a Novel: Context & Decisions (Part 1 of 4)| 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
5 posts published by Beem Weeks, Audrey Driscoll, Sue Coletta, D. Wallace Peach, and coldhandboyack during July 2025| 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
5 posts published by Joy York, Nicholas C. Rossis, D. Wallace Peach, Author Jan Sikes, and Liz Gauffreau during March 2025| Story Empire
Images: Pixabay Greetings! Liz Gauffreau with you today. I think it’s safe to say that all authors want more people to read and enjoy their books. (I know I do!) However, some readers may enc…| Story Empire
5 posts published by Liz Gauffreau, D.L. Finn, Author, Beem Weeks, Sue Coletta, and coldhandboyack during June 2025| Story Empire
Denise here to revisit a favorite subject of mine animals, and writing. When I was young, I was drawn to books about animals and that hasn’t changed. There are so many to choose from but a fe…| Story Empire
Greetings to one and all. Beem Weeks back with you again for the month of June! I’m re-visiting a topic I covered a few years ago: Show, Don’t Tell! One of storytelling’s most vital skills is the a…| 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
5 posts published by Joy York, Nicholas C. Rossis, D. Wallace Peach, Author Jan Sikes, and Liz Gauffreau during February 2025| Story Empire
Hi, gang. ✋ Craig here again and I’m contemplating a new series. I’m the guy who writes almost exclusively in the speculative genres of paranormal/supernatural, fantasy, and science fiction. There …| 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
