You’re ready to write a book, but you’re not sure where to start. Or maybe you’re an avid creative writer and you want to level up your story skills. Whatever your reasons, the best thing you can do for your writing life is to invest in continuous learning. When you take the time to understand storytelling at a deep level, writing gets a lot faster and easier. Here are my 10 favorite resources for aspiring authors.

When it comes to writing a book, there are different definitions of the word “theme”. It can get confusing, but it’s really important to get strong themes in a novel and be able to express them clearly. If your novel lacks a purposeful theme, it will lack direction and continuity and it won’t hold the interest of readers.

Your main character is the beating heart of your story. Your goal is to take them on a transformation journey so powerful that your reader is itching to turn the pages of your novel. Considering how important character is, I’m always surprised at how many writing teachers don’t know how to build proper character arcs.

It’s embarrassing to admit this, but there have been times along my writing journey when I’ve spent more time thinking about how my writing can serve me than how it can serve readers. I became a much better writer when I realized the purpose of my writing is to entertain and inspire others. When I shifted my focus outward, I could better see what I needed to work on to improve my reader’s experience and ultimately my own writing.

During my MFA program, I purposely didn’t take any poetry classes, even though they were available to me. I knew I wasn’t any good at poetry. I wasn’t good at coming up with beautiful images or smart sentences to ellicit emotion from readers. I liked reading it. Absolutely. But writing it, not so much. Now I regret not taking a poetry class.