I managed to get to #1 on Wattpad for Fantasy as well as Adventure in a month and a half. After four months, I had 1 Million reads and a year later I had 5 million. I worked really hard and have been very lucky, but I'm sure that following these simple rules helped a lot!

Coming up with five adjectives to describe your character barely scratches the surface. In order to make your character figuratively come alive, you'll need to know them better than they know themselves. The exercises in this book will make you think about your characters in ways you never have before.

If you're struggling with punctuation, dialogue, spelling or grammar, have a read of this simple guide to the components of writing, copyright, and publishing. [UNEDITED VERSION- Full, edited version to be released soon!]

Welcome to the Big Wide Orange world of Wattpad. Here are a few handy tips on figuring your way around this pretty awesome website, and having a blast.

This is about writing, as I think of it. Subjects covered will range from plot aspects to characterization, writing craft to just surviving as a writer. Mainly, Part 1 is a comprehensive list of things to do in order to create and maintain tension.

If a book has really good dialogue, you may not notice because it flows so naturally. But if you're reading a book with poorly written dialogue, it will probably feel awkward. It may even feel painful. You may not want to continue reading. You don't want to be that writer. Don't be that writer. Learn how to avoid some of the most common dialogue mistakes here.

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