​Have you ever dreamed of becoming a writer?
Or ever fancied seeing your name printed in golden letters on the cover of a bestselling book?

Well, if you just screamed a roaring ‘hell yes' at the top of your lungs, chances are you're meant to be a writer. You are meant to help change the world and inspire people’s lives through the power of your words.

“But how do I begin? I have no ideas.”

“I have ideas but I don't know how to put them on paper.”

Worry not, I have a plan for you.

Writing Tips for Beginners and Get Better at Writing

• Start reading and mimic the voice
• Write catchy titles
• Write for yourself
• Research and understand your audience
• Study ways to become a great storyteller
• Make your readers feel something
• Explore the Internet
• Be consistent
• Believe in yourself
• Write to throw the paper away

These are my hand-picked top 10 writing tips for beginners to help you blossom into a top-notch writer. So explore each deeper, read them, apply them, and go get writing.
1. Read like a maniac
As a writer, words are your fuel; and what better way to master words than reading itself. If you want to write, you need to read — and read, and read, and read! Read everything you can get your hands on. Classic literature. Fiction. Non-Fiction. EBooks. Magazines. Even that trashy, old novella with giggling girls on the cover.
Examine writing style with a critical eye and observe how authors convey their thoughts and emotions. Every book has a lesson for you if you're willing to pay attention. Don't limit your reading to a particular genre. Read different books to gain fresh perspective. And remember that you cannot even dare to call yourself a writer unless you fall in love with the idea of reading.
2. Write catchy titles
This is one of the most important writing tips for beginners. It is often said (and truly said) that people immediately stop reading your content if you don't hook them right from the beginning.

No matter have excellent your content is, it won't matter unless you match it with a catchy title. A bold headline can be the very difference between a quality piece of writing, or a dud. Start with a bang! Embellish your writing with words that immediately grab reader's attention and tempt them to read on. That's the key to creating compelling art.
3. Write for yourself
Forget the fact that you're writing for an audience. First and foremost of all, write for yourself. Just direct your focus solely on your feelings, ideas and opinions and how to put them on paper. It fires your passion and creativity. It allows you to ink your inner thoughts lucidly on paper as you learn to write right from your heart. And above all, people seem to like it.
4. Understand your audience
‘Write for yourself; rewrite for others'…this is one of the greatest writing tips for beginners anyone could give you. Know your audience better than they know themselves. Act as if you are speaking to one person and write accordingly to create an emotional tie with your readers. One great way to do that is to connect with your readers to learn their perspective, their side of story.
5. Learn to become a great storyteller
Everyone loves a good, old tale. A craft as old as man himself, storytelling is a great way to woo and charm and audience. That’s because the need for stories is rooted deeply inside our brains. Try to blend in an engaging story in your writing. Good stories are easy to understand and the simplicity of language also aid readers in remembering them. It does not matter what genre you write in, everything can be turned into a story – if you tell it the right way.
6. Make your readers feel something
If you've made your readers feel something (and as long as it's not irritation or monotony), you as a writer have done your job. Readers can fear and feel motivated and be excited and feel grief. They can smile and sob, shiver and rage. All from reading your content. Just make your readers feel something. Humans crave drama – so feed it to them like chocolate.
7. Explore the Internet
The all-encompassing world of internet is chock full of guides, how-to's and writing tips for beginners. Not all of them are really useful, but there's still plenty of quality material out there that is definitely worth your time. Take an online writing course or join a writing forum to perk up your writing prowess. Connect with fellow writers and get an insight to how they get their work done. Think of internet as a massive goldmine ready to be exploited.
8. Be consistent
Writing consistently is one of the worst struggles writers face in their daily lives. Even the most skilled writers find it arduous to stay consistent and keep the words flowing regularly on paper. Notch up a few hundred words every day to keep your writing skills sharp. Like any other skill, your writing prowess slowly rusts if not put to practice consistently.
9. Believe in yourself
No list of writing tips for beginners can be complete without this point. Writing is a daunting process. There are many ups and downs. Every day is a new challenge. There are times when you find yourself judging your writing and questioning your abilities. There's nothing wrong with doubting yourself. You are human, therefore you doubt. The problem really arises when doubt overwhelms you and starts holding you back.
That's where self-belief comes into play. If you are going to go through, you have to trust your gut and keep believing in yourself. You have to plant this motto in the deepest chamber of your mind: I will never quit!
10. Enjoy writing
Writing is magic, quite literally. You create something out of nothing. Something you write today can be found and read in a thousand years and it can still be related to readers. This is magic. The best way to do justice to writing is to love it. Once you start enjoying the process of writing, words will come naturally to you and you'll look forward to writing every day.

Have fun! Happy Writing!

Happy Christmas and Christmas Traditions

When I was younger my family was all very close in distance as well as emotion. Our traditions for Christmas would always mean that we would venture out to my father’s parents on Christmas Eve to have dinner and Christmas with his family – there was always turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, creamed corn and gravy. My father’s parents were farmers so there was never an absence of vegetables, the smell of coffee or rock candy. We would all pull names from my grandfathers straw hat on Thanksgiving to know who we would all buy Christmas presents for, which meant that with 19 of us – the tree was pretty well packed. The earth’s climate hadn’t changed so much so having a white Christmas in Michigan was almost a given. I remember riding in the car and watching the scenery change from houses to trees and always with a cover of snow. We as kids still found it more fun to play in my grandfather’s barn and make tunnels and forks out of his bales of hay, than to stay inside with the grownups as the chatted or played cards. It all seemed so easy and I hate to say this – but down home. Rather rich with the simple pleasures of the holiday with little real fuss. Nothing over the top and filled with the real need to gather as a family.

​My reasoning for telling you all of this and bringing it to the forefront is to say. Whatever memories you have, or whatever traditions you continue to keep alive. May you have a wonderful and joyful holiday season.  David and I, as well as the staff at Breaking Rules Publishing wish you all a Happy Christmas.
 
Be safe and well,
​
Christopher

And here we are.
​
So many good and positive things have happened, been conceived, and shown themselves in the last few days, weeks really. One of the more poignant things would be a conversation that I just had with a sales person from LinkedIn.

The conversation started with, what is your business, where do you want to go and what are you doing to build it? I went into the history of Breaking Rules Publishing, what we’re doing, what we’re trying to accomplish. The writing community that we’re building and the challenges that we’re facing with the virus. Said salesman went on to say that they have a process that will bring us over 400K a month with some simple steps. He went on to explain by charging authors 10-30k to publish and market their books that we would build a better business and become more successful.

It was clear that he hadn’t listened to my story about why I started to write. The challenges that I had with my first agent and publisher. How my first agent and publisher wanted to turn my book into something that I didn’t recognize. It was clear that he didn’t hear me say that the purpose of Breaking Rules Publishing is to be a place of security, promise and community for the writers under our umbrella. He only saw dollar signs. I can’t blame him, we all want money and we all want success. However, there is a moment when integrity has to step in and take the lead.

My response to Mr. Salesman was that by following his plan we would be turning a blind eye to the mission and goals of our company as well as turning our back on the authors that have not only come to us already but those that have yet to come. We are not a vanity press and we will never be one.

It is my hope that with the new programs and processes as well as authors that are coming in 2021 – that we will be fine. That we will all find the success that we write for. We don’t have to recreate our company, like my first book, into something that I /we don’t recognize. We can stand strong and find the ways that we need to turn 2020 around and make Breaking Rules Publishing the publishing house that it was meant to be.
Stay with us – we’re turning this machine around and making it a success and we’re bringing all of you with us. 

Look for Benjamin's new book - Everybody But Us on the BRP website as well as his new short story in the BRP Anthology - It's The Holidays.

Why do we write? It isn’t a question many authors ask themselves or choose to write about. While a select few do delve into their inner psyche and reflect on their addiction to writing, most avoid the question, too busy with their noses in books or fingers running across keyboards, telling their truths.

​For myself, I do sometimes stop and wonder. Why am I doing this? Why am I compelled to create imaginary people, the fictional worlds they inhabit and give them obstacles to overcome, (or usually be consumed by, in my case). I think that the answer is far from simple. As a fledgling amateur, I can say with certainty that I do not write for money and have no particular desire to earn any, I just want my voice to be heard in a sea of chatter.
​
I think that, primarily for myself, writing gives me a sense of power. As an autistic person, I crave control and rigidity. I find that through writing I can become godlike, I can dictate who, what, when, where, why and how. I can do anything that I can imagine, and I can imagine quite a bit. That’s not to say I religiously plan my stories, I see where my writing takes me and try to follow the natural flow of the story, but I take comfort in the fact that control ultimately lies with me. As a student of English Literature for the past six years now, I also understand the power of words and not only the people who write them. They have the ability to shape thoughts, move men to action and change the world. Words have seen nations rise and fall, words declared the birth of America, the most powerful nation on earth, words are written in the law and maintain power and oppress the weak. If in my writing I could gain only a shred of this power, one atom of it, then I would feel very powerful indeed.

​I think that also, as unoriginal as the idea is, writing is a form of escapism. As a writer I can ascend from my mortal bounds and become something else entirely, I can familiarise myself with people who I have never met before, or places that I could – literally – only dream of. After a long day at work, or during a particularly low moment, I visit my stories and greet the characters as old friends, the settings I create become second homes where I can take off my veil of respectability, reveal my soul and become my truest self; when writing, I have no rules to adhere to, no expectation to meet, nor any people to impress. I am me in my rawest form and revel in the freedom I am given. Writing is like a magic carpet to transport me to wherever I can imagine, the darkest depths or the highest Heaven, so much so that writing becomes a haven for me, a comforting blanket which I can cover myself with when real life becomes that scary monster in the closet, threatening to intrude.

To put it simply, writing is fun and multi-purposeful. It’s an exercise that stimulates the brain and the imagination, it can alleviate stress or inspire us to create. Our ability to write, to pass on words from generation to generation, culture to culture or from race to race is a gift that we will never stop using. Here, I will finish with a quote that summarises my thoughts superbly:
​
“Words are  in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic.”
J.K.Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

​Submitting your work usually starts with a ‘synopsis,’ an introduction to your story, and you! Everything hinges on a ‘synopsis’ for it tells the editor what the story’s about in a brief presentation. If you’ve presented your story idea well enough to spark the publisher’s interest, you’ll receive an invitation to submit more…a couple of chapters, or the entire manuscript for review.
​

​Editing matters! You’ll find that editing is a huge part of creating a story that sells, and it’s important to listen to editors for they make your manuscript more worthy. They provide a critical service since they know what readers want. Also, listen to editor’s guidance about style, grammar, using active voice, and other elements about which you might neglect. As a matter of fact the procedure editors perform is ‘surgical’, as they get rid of what the manuscript can’t use, or does harm, and insert what’s needed. In the end they’ve made your manuscript more appealing to an audience of readers.  

Getting with other writers and with writing organizations can offer writers clarity and support. The interchange has benefits.

Rejection plays a heavy role in a writer’s life. Every submission has a high possibility to be turned down. Publishers, editors, producers and others have to decide whether a writer will produce a ‘seller’ or nor, a decision that carries a lot of weight. Personally, my ‘rejections’ could fill a dresser drawer, but I continue to submit!

​Lastly, but very importantly, once you’re published, it’s vital that you become heavily involved promoting and marketing. Your work is an isolated project when you’re ‘creating’ and becomes a ‘public’ endeavor after. Be prepared to seek out interviews, venues for readings and signings, public appearances of all sorts, libraries, universities, churches, magazines, social media, organizations…any possible means of access. Also, websites that advertise writers’ work can be a good source for broadening sales. I’d suggest you look for the ‘free’ ones. I discovered several ‘free’ sites online. You have to consider every opportunity if you’re going to have any success as a writer. They’re many outlets available for your work. It’s up to you to go after them.
​
Keep Writing, and Good Luck!!!

I think that one of the greatest things a person or company can do is to try to refocus or reinvent themselves. That is what needs to happen here at Breaking Rules Publishing.
The pandemic – COVID – has put a crack in many lives and businesses. So like most, we’re looking at how we can help to market out authors in this more than normal social media and online world. Clearly having events and book signings isn’t going to be a component of our near future – so – we have to come up with new ways to get the word out.

To help with that we have increased our postings on all of our social media sites as well as looked for additional platforms. Not just for author sales but for knowledge and encouragement as well. We are working to find ways to promote the authors and services that we have at Breaking Rules Publishing.

This last summer we started to host an Author Salon for the authors to share experiences, their WIP, challenges and ideas to help those in attendance to work smarter. We are also bringing in guest speakers in once a month to help guide them through the process of marketing themselves and the group.

We are also reaching out to like authors to help promote themselves in a group setting. Hoping to build a stronger community and share the word on the fantastic authors we have under the Breaking Rules Publishing umbrella.
​
Things are changing all over – we have to keep up and move into the new publishing and marketing arenas.
 
Thanks for stopping by. 

​
Have you taken a moment to check out the most recent issue of  The Scribe or Horror magazines.

The Scribe Magazine - October 2020 Issue$15.00The Scribe Magazine from Breaking Rules Publishing is full of short stories - poetry and helpful hints in regard to marketing your book - starting a journal and a blog. The lineup is below.

The Scribe Magazine Writer List
Brian Wagstaff – Wag – Chitra Gopalakrishnan – C. L. Sidell – Barrie Darke – E. E. King – Floris van Zyl – Frederick Pangborne – Harris Coverley – John D. Ashton – Kevin M. Folliard – Pedro Iniguez – Terry Groves – Timothy Wilkie – Elaine Rush

Authors from – the USA – United Kingdom – South Africa – Saba Island – Canada – India.

Horror Magazine - October 2020 Issue$15.00The Horror Magazine from Breaking Rules Publishing is full of short stories - poetry and helpful hints in regard to marketing your book - starting a journal and a blog. The lineup is below.

Horror Magazine Writer List
Harris Coverley – Pedro Iniguez – Andrew Punzo – Chisto Healy – Dan Woessner – E. E. King – Ian Delacroix – Mike Radar – Joshua Campbell – Judith Baron – Nick Fletcher – Matthew Pendell – Peter Glazebrook – Robert Lupton – Timothy Wilkie – T. M. Brown – Katherine Widick - -Matthew Wilson – John Grey – Justin Zipprich

Authors from – the USA – United Kingdom – Saba Island – Italy – Australia – Canada - 


​Interested in being a contributing writer? Read below.

The Scribe, Someday and Horror - are 60 - 100 plus page magazines that feature articles and tools to assist in the success of the writers and readers that subscribe. It also offers writers, published authors and young writers the opportunity to share their work, promote their novels, short stories or poetry. To submit your short story or poems  please email us at pattymccarthy@breakingrulespublishing.com.

The submission deadline for ALL Magazines will always be the 1st of the prior month before release.
Send all of your submissions to pattymccarthy@breakingrulespublishing.com.

Submission Guidelines can be found under the "Guidelines" tab.

*If your short story is accepted for publication in any issue of any of our magazines, you may be asked for an Author Byline and a piece of artwork such as a picture that compliments your story.

Authors Submitting Articles - 
Articles submitted by writers for our magazines will  be paid .01 per word up to 500 words. As the magazines grow this policy will change and the amount will increase. If you are interested in advertising in the magazines please see the packages below. 

Purchasing An Ad within all magazines - 

Please email us at  info@breakingrulespublishing.com if you're interested in purchasing an ad.

The Scribe, Someday and Horror are available online as well in hard copy. They are sent out to all of our subscribers as well as placed in various locations throughout the country. We also share The Scribe, Someday and Horror and our advertisers on our social media sites.

For information about advertising and pricing for The Scribe, Someday and Horror, please look below. If you are interested in placing an ad please email us at info@breakingrulespublishing.com or use the link below to make your purchase now.

To secure a package or get additional information - email  info@breakingrulespublishing.com.

​(Payments may be made in full or monthly/quarterly installments.)


Ad Size                              Monthly                      Six Months Or More             
Full Page                                  $100                                $600
3/4 Page                                   $75                                  $450 
Half Page                                  $50                                 $300      
Quarter Page                            $35                                 $210      
Business Card                          $25                                 $150

​
Attention Authors - ​Artists - Dancers - Musicians Promo

​Authors - Artists - Dancers - Musicians Promo  Normally $50 but now $25 Per piece - From now until Dec 31, 2020 - we are offering this price for all magazines per issue.                                           
(Includes Book cover art - blurb about the book, author’s website and authors photo if desired)

If you are interested in writing 400 to 500 words to accompany your promo we will discount your ad purchase to $20. These 400-500 words could be anything from telling us about your artistic journey to additional information about your work. 

Promote your art opening - your CD release - dancer performances, your new book or book signing etc. 
​

​Short Story Submissions - will be paid $.01 per word - per accepted submission
(Includes - up to 5,500 words, artwork for the story and an author photo if desired)

​To submit your short story to The Scribe - Horror please email us at pattymccarthy@breakingrulespublishing.com.


Poetry Submissions - will be paid $10 - per accepted submission or more than 10 lines.
(Includes - up to 300 words, artwork for the poem and author photo if desired) 

​All of the artwork on the front covers of The Scribe, Someday and Triangle Writers Magazine will be created by artist David Rule - created.rule

Sponsors will be placed throughout The Scribe, Someday and Horror Magazines individually, as well as placed on our website - promoted on our social media sites and at all events. To submit your poetry to The Scribe - Horror - please email us at pattymccarthy@breakingrulespublishing.com.

Hi, I’m Adam and I’m a writer. That makes me sound like an alcoholic. I’m not. In fact, I hardly drink at all. Don’t like the taste of most booze. Unlike Sunita Kumar, who is partial to a cherry vodka or three.
Anyway, I thought that I would share a little bit about my writing process that helped in the creation of my new novella Murder Planet, now on sale through Breaking Rules Publishing. Please buy it. You’ll enjoy it.
Having to juggle a full-time job and a social life alaong with my writing has resulted in me doing “little and often” writing. I try to do at least 10-15 minutes a day (except Sunday) of ‘writing’, which covers everything from plot development to research to the actual typing.
I use both a desktop PC and a tablet for my writing, with Microsoft’s OneDrive allowing me to access my writing from wherever I am in the world, along as I have a Wi-Fi connection.

Planning

However, for planning, as someone born in the relatively early days of home computing, I still use paper nearly exclusively for jotting down notes and making various rough drawings of things – I carry a notebook in my workbag so I can write down ideas when they occur to me, although I admittedly don’t always do so immediately.  It’s hard to do that when standing in a crowded commuter train.
In fact, I am currently in the process of scanning my extensive collection of paper notes that go back over 20 years.

Notes for a character that ultimately did not make it into Murder Planet

Influences

One of the fundamentals of any fictional work is memorable characters. Sunita Kumar, my main protagonist, has evolved considerably over the years – she was originally a captain in her 40s and her daughter a stroppy teenager. Her general disregard for social conventions is based on some of my own favourite female characters in recent fiction; for example, I can spot elements of Sameen Shaw in Person of Interest, although Sunita lacks her combat skills.
Indeed, television shows have proved a major influence in my character creation. The whole concept of ‘Spacees’, basically Romani (albeit from all ethnicities – Sunita is of Tamil heritage) in space, originated from an episode of Call the Midwife featuring their waterborne cousins. In creating a new culture based on an existing one, I am trying to be culturally true to a group and avoid using negative stereotypes; Sunita’s wedding had a tacky carriage, but she was pleased when it got set on fire in a mass brawl.
In particular, the cult classic Blake’s 7, which I watched in re-runs when I was growing up, has had a major influence. Fans of it may be able to spot a reference or two in Murder Planet.
Another major influence was Alien – a classic space horror that has stood the test of time. The aesthetic of that movie has strongly influenced the story; the crew of Tulyar are basically truckers and wear jumpsuits like that worn by Sigourney Weaver in that movie. That whole aesthetic has a name – cassette futurism – something I learned the other day.
Any space drama needs a ‘hero’ ship, that looks cool even if it is a complete pile of junk. Tulyar is intended to be an ageing but still highly capable merchant ship. The vessel, down to its name, is inspired by the British Rail Class 55 locomotive, known universally to railway enthusiasts (like me) as the “Deltic” and much loved by them. 100 mile an hour capable in an era where that was uncommon, they accelerated services in Britain’s East Coast Main Line and remained in service until 1981. The blue and yellow paint job that they sported from the mid-1960s onwards is shared by Tulyar, one of the six survivors of the 22 built.
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