Personally, I love writing fiction. To be honest with you, I love writing in a whole array of styles.
You can view my fiction and non-fiction eBooks for sale and where to purchase from at this link.
I have always loved writing. So I am sharing my love of writing with you.
Here are some hot 2026 tips on writing fiction this year:
1. Create a villain for your fiction novel
When I first wrote my novel Entice Me, it was a sweet story with no grit. I lost my first novel to a computer crash. I nearly stopped writing fiction novels for good. I had a lovely friend who said, "Mel, why not re-write your novel but make it better." I thought about it for a while. To be honest, I was really upset about losing my novel. A writer cannot remember every aspect of the story written, well I surely couldn't. So I thought about what my friend said and this time, I rewrote my first novel, Entice Me and added a villain - Sally. Sally is a super cow. Wherever Miranda is, Sally is behind her back scheming. It was actually fun and overly dramatic to create a villain for my chick lit - drama novel. It definitely added drama to a whole new level. On a side note, I also always hand wrote my novels from then on.
2. Add a love story within the story
Ok, so I am mainly a romance writer when it comes to my fiction novels. But if you want to bring the women into the journey of your fantasy novel or murder-mystery, within your story add a small love story. It's romantic and sweet. Plus readers wonder if the love will last forever with all the challenges along the way of the world tumbling around them, or will it crash and burn. Who knows.
3. Create a kill scene in your novel for your male readers
Ok, so when I wrote Destiny Lane - a fantasy romance novel, I had a male fan reader who read my very first novel, Entice Me and said he needed a kill scene for the next novel. Destiny Lane wasn't my second novel, but I did create more than just a kill scene, I also created an army scene with a motorbike chase and more. I really thought about my male audience but I also had so much fun creating these scenes where it was just so unromantic. It was pure action and strategy.
4. Upskill in areas of grammar and punctuation
After writing and publishing 8 books and then taking a 7 year break. I just couldn't remember all the correct styles of punctuation and I wanted a refresher in grammar. So I took a reputable online course for fiction writing in grammar and punctuation. I have a historical romance novel in the making, so during my first edit of the novel, I got to practice my new refreshed skills. It has given me great confidence that what I am writing and editing is using the correct grammar.
5. Keep yourself honest
I recently started tracking how many hours I am spending writing, whether it is blogging, book writing or creating digital products for my Etsy Store. Not to mention the time spent marketing and promoting my writing. Tracking how long you are writing, helps you work out is what you are writing motivating you to keep writing. For example, if you are working on a novel and you have written the plot about three months ago and not much else... maybe this project just needs to go on hold for a moment, while you brainstorm a project you actually want to write. You can always go back to the other project another time, but it's important you just write what you actually want to write.
6. Be confident or not-when talking about your writing projects
I still get nervous talking about my writing. It's ok, I wasn't a natural born speaker. I am a natural born writer. So I would rather write about my celebrations then verbally tell people about it. The key here is, you may not feel confident to publish your book... but if you do, imagine what could happen? So it's about putting your book and writing out there for the world to see. You don't even have to tell anyone it's out in the world. You would be surprised however, how much people think it is a cool for someone to write a book. I have only once received a negative response from a family member and that's with over 7 years of writing. Not bad really.
7. Once you finish your first novel, start the next novel
When I wrote Entice Me and published it. I spent about 3 months self-marketing my writing. It was pretty cool to do, the marketing. My confidence really grew when I saw 2-page spread interviews with me as the interviewee and my press releases I wrote published in magazines and newspapers. It was just cool. However, I realised after 3 months, I now have fans and they want to read the next book, which I hadn't even started ... So keep marketing but also go back to writing your next project.
8. Most of all have fun when writing novels
Writing fiction novels is just super fun. You can literally let your imagination go to play. Your creative self really does come out. So have fun and keep going. You got this.
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