Essays on Writing is a collection of thoughts I come across during my writing journey. They cover topics such as grammar, editing, writing, publishing and very often character and story development within the expectations of genre or society.

Insider tips and techniques from a traditionally published author on hooking your reader and not letting them go. These tips are aimed to inspire you so that you’re coming up with ideas that help to focus your story, improve your writing, and deepen your understanding of what makes a story work.

The advice you will find here follows the Chicago Manual of Style which is widely used by American publishers. There are some variances in style from country to country (and even from American publisher to American publisher.) **It may be easier to search the Table of Contents, as there is no rhyme or reason right now to chapter order.**

I'm CJ Lyons. And I'm a writer.... If you also need a twelve-step program to stop writing, then you've come to the right place. I don't like rules. I don't like people telling me what to do. I don't like complex formulas or graphs or charts that I have to consult because that's the "right way" to create a compelling story. So I've taken everything I've learned about the essence of good storytelling and I've distilled it all into a few simple concepts. Things so easy that by the time you've finished this book and practiced using these techniques, you'll be able to not only craft a great story but also to complete your novel. In fact, by the end, you'll be saying: Wow! This is so easy, it makes so much sense! I can use this every day I write... NOTE: I’ll be uploading parts of this how-to book every Thursday. If you’d like to buy the complete book it’s available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XTWZA2 (and was previously published as No Rules, Just WRITE!) There's also a companion workbook available on NoRulesJustWrite.com ABOUT CJ: New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-one novels, former pediatric ER doctor CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge Thrillers with Heart. Winner of the International Thriller Writers’ coveted Thriller Award, CJ has been called a "master within the genre" (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as "breathtakingly fast-paced" and "riveting" (Publishers Weekly) with "characters with beating hearts and three dimensions" (Newsday). Learn more about CJ's Thrillers with Heart at www.CJLyons.net

Part guide, part rant. Everything I've learned on writing, from Wattpad, experience, or how-to writing books. Leave requests on the second chapter :)

So you've got a great story, characters you love, a plot which grips you. You want to share your story with the world; you're excited about it, and you want people to read it. But you feel like they land on your page and lose interest as soon as they read your summary. This seems to be a recurring problem. Here are five easy steps to follow to make your summary stronger, and to get more readers. Disclaimer: this is not official or endorsed by Wattpad in any way; I've just made it up to help other writers. My creds: I'm an editor and freelance writer. I've lost count of the number of blurbs and summaries I've written or edited. I'm happy to help out with your summaries if you PM me. For what it's worth, I think writing summaries is one of the hardest parts of being a writer. We're writers, not salesmen - it's hard to put yourself in the mindset of the reader, to write something that will hook them. I write mainly teen fiction so my advice is skewed towards that, but I think the advice works for all genres and categories. Let me know what you think in the comments!