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Worried Your TBR Will Crush You? 5 Book Management Tips

Posted on May 20, 2025April 17, 2025 by R.M. Archer

I’m not one to do a “digital detox” every new year, but I significantly pared down my inbox in January, which drew my attention to the nearly 2,500 books I had marked to-read on Goodreads, many of which reflected past interests and reading habits I’m unlikely to return to… and I suspect I’m not the only one with such overwhelming stacks of books looming from the to-read pile (whether that pile is visible or not).

Especially as we look toward summer reading, it seemed a fitting time to discuss how to declutter that TBR (To-Be-Read pile) and get back to reading what you’re interested in—with the ability to clearly see the next interesting book on the stack.

Start at the Bottom

Start your purge with Continue reading “Worried Your TBR Will Crush You? 5 Book Management Tips” →

Developing Gender Roles for Fictional Cultures

Posted on May 13, 2025April 17, 2025 by R.M. Archer

Last month, it was brought to my attention that I didn’t yet have any articles on developing gender roles in fictional cultures, which led to the topic floating around in my brain until a post outline formed (likely helped along by the fact that I do have a section on gender roles in Building a World with a View, so this is a topic I’ve written about before even if it wasn’t in an available format until now). While some folks prefer to avoid gender roles as a fraught topic, knowing how your culture views the responsibilities and roles of men and women makes a huge difference in how they frame society as a whole; broader societal structure has its foundation in the structure of gender roles and family units, whether we like that reality or not, so gender roles are an important topic to consider when fleshing out a fictional culture!

Consider Natural Strengths & Weaknesses

Men and women have different natural strengths and weaknesses–biological and otherwise. The same is Continue reading “Developing Gender Roles for Fictional Cultures” →

How to Replace a Character in Your Cast (Without Irritating Readers)

Posted on May 6, 2025April 8, 2025 by R.M. Archer

Have you ever watched a show or read a series in which a character ends up replaced–whether the original character dies or goes off on their own adventure, and their place is taken by someone new–and the transition leaves you with a strong distaste for the new character? “What do you mean this is who’s replacing so-and-so?” Yeah, me too. But I recently saw a transition like this done well in Leverage (this post will include some season 2 spoilers), so I decided to analyze what made this cast replacement work when so many others simply leave viewers or readers irritated. Here’s what I came away with.

Know What Purpose and Role Your Character Serves

Before you can effectively replace a character, you need to know what it really is you’re replacing. Every character should have Continue reading “How to Replace a Character in Your Cast (Without Irritating Readers)” →

Ready to Publish? 4 Indications to Look For

Posted on April 29, 2025March 28, 2025 by R.M. Archer

It can be hard to tell when a book is ready to be sent out into the world–especially if you’ve never published before–but developing the skill to identify when a book is ready can be critical to the publishing process, whether you’re trying to minimize agent rejections or you’re indie publishing and have to serve as your own gatekeeper. Ultimately, one develops this skill primarily as one writes and publishes more books and comes to better understand one’s own process; there is variation between authors, and you’ll ultimately come to understand when your own books are ready simply from gaining familiarity with the process–and through trial and error. But here are a few indications to look for, as you first begin building this skill, that can help you know when your book is ready for publication.

Editing in Circles

If your edits aren’t Continue reading “Ready to Publish? 4 Indications to Look For” →

Revisiting My (Self-)Editing Process

Posted on April 22, 2025April 22, 2025 by R.M. Archer

Way back in 2018, I wrote a post sharing the editing process I intended to use for the novel I was revising at the time (which was shelved shortly afterward and has yet to see the light of day). That was the last project I made editing notes on in print (at least for an early draft), so I revisited that post when I decided to work on Lightning in print. Since it’s been so long, I’ve grown so much, and I’ve seen that original process not work, I ended up making some significant changes from that process to this one.

Now that I’m further through the process and can say what actually worked and what didn’t (vs. the 2018 post which I wrote at the beginning of the process, before it was really tested), here are some of my observations from how this modified editing process worked for Lightning.

A Quick Recap

If you want to see an in-depth look at how I planned to edit The Heart of the Baenor (that unpublished 2018 novel), jumping back to that original post is your best bet. But here’s a quick overview, for those who don’t care to see the full failed version and just want an idea of how this new process compares.

In 2018, I had a color-coded system for editing notes. It was largely focused on Continue reading “Revisiting My (Self-)Editing Process” →