writing tips

Let’s Write Chapter One

Hershman RightsLeave a comment

As we approach the new year, it’s like we are coming to a new chapter and some may even look at it as chapter one. I know it sounds cheesy but the new year gives people inspiration to start their lives in a new light. So in that honor we will be discussing how you can write your chapter.


Your first chapter needs to be the ultimate hook! Something that will captivate publishers, agents, and readers (no pressure). But don’t worry, that’s why you’re here…read on to discover the writers chapter one checklist.  

Disclaimer: Everyone’s books are different so every first chapter will be. There is no perfect formula to a first chapter but there are key elements. 

  1. Introduce the protagonist. 

First things first, we need to know the main character. We don’t need to know descriptive details just yet but enough to know a little bit about them. And don’t forget…for every great protagonist comes a great antagonist.

  1. Establish a point of view. 

What is your story’s point of view? Will you be writing in third person limited, third person omniscient, first person or another POV? Pick one and stick to it!

  1. Set the genre. 

From the first chapter the reader should truly understand what genre they are reading. Is it a romance, science fiction, thriller and so forth? 

  1. Introduce the conflict. 

What is going to keep the reader engaged? Why are they reading this story? Introducing the conflict in the first chapter gives the reader something to look forward to and makes them continue to chapter two. 

  1. Don’t overwhelm the reader.

Try not to throw in too much information in the first chapter. They still have a whole book to read after all! So limit the characters and places you mention in the first chapter. 

And as always..have fun! This is your novel and there’s no right way to write a first chapter, just helpful tips! One other tip is to keep track of what your doing, sometimes an easy organizer of your thoughts works like this one:

Happy Writing! And Happy almost New Year!

Spark Your Holiday Novel With Imagery!

Hershman RightsLeave a comment

Weather (pun intended) we like it or not the holiday season is right around the corner! It’s practically here (in Grinch voice)!

And for some of us that means snow! Now, if you are trying to spark some creativity for your holiday novel one great way to do that is through imagery. Looking at photos can make us believe we are there and feeling the surroundings. So if you live in someplace that may not get snow, spark that feeling with some of these images!

There are so many tools to use to spark your imagination! Just by going online and typing themes of your book into the search bar and looking at the images can open a whole new door to your novel!

And I am not just here to show you pictures of snow because there can be so much more in a holiday novel. Maybe you live in a place that has too much snow and your characters take a tropical vacation for the holidays?

The possibilities are endless! Maybe you use your own photos to spark something! Just remember that you can spark your creativity through almost anything! 

Happy Writing!

A Guide to Writing Romantic Comedy…

Hershman Rights3 Comments

Let’s get our romance on! In the spirit of the coming love holiday let us take a step into the world of romantic comedies. A genre designed to give anyone butterflies, has a very straight forward plot. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy tries to get girl back. We have seen it over and over and yet I always find myself being drawn towards these novels. Now, we are not here to take an in depth look at my personal library but instead how you can get started on creating your own rom com!

In terms of the structure a typical rom com goes as follows:

Introductions: The reader meets the characters individually, before they meet each other. 

The meet cute: This is when the two characters meet and sparks fly! The “meet cute” is memorable for the characters. For example, in Romeo and Juliet when they meet for the first time and lock eyes followed by a kiss all within 5 minutes of meeting each other!

Falling in love: This is when the lovey-dovey love sequence happens in movies. Where clip after clip you see them simply being in the act of love with one another. Now, in terms of a novel we have a little more time to grow the chemistry between the characters. So, let their relationship grow!

Conflict: Of course there has to be a turning point. The hurdle the couple must go through where an argument or an act threatens their relationship. For example, one of the characters can’t let go of a past relationship. 

Breakup: More often than not the characters breakup or are separated briefly. But this gives them time to realize what they are missing!

Happy ending: The conflict is resolved, and love is back!

Now that the basic structure of the novel is out of the way…how do you make it entertaining for the reader. Because as I said, most of the time the structure is the same, it’s how you build the story that makes it worth reading. 

Here are some more tips…

Make it relatable. Why does the reader find love? Are they lonely or went through a bad breakup recently? Give them a reason to find love. 

The sidekick! There’s almost always the friend who gives bad advice or lightens the mood. But the character needs someone to depend on when the conflict arises. 

Give them romance. This might be a given but the reader knows they picked up a romance so give them a romance! Create memorable scenes to make a compelling story. It’s okay to be over the top romantic too!

Stay true to your character. Don’t lose sight of your character just because they are in love. It’s okay for them to grow individually..but still together.

I hope this helps you on your journey of writing a romantic comedy!

Happy Writing!

Spark Creativity!

Hershman RightsLeave a comment

Creativity: the use of imagination or original ideas. 

Take risks, think in a way that’s outside the box! I wanted to look into how someone can spark more creativity in their life, and came across a very interesting article. 10 Psychological Tricks That Will Boost Your Creativity. In this article they discuss how you have to seek out things that inspire you, rather than waiting for something inspirational to happen. 

I personally loved all of the tips mentioned, and will be sure to try and introduce them into my own life. Creativity is endless! We just have to find the right recipes for ourselves to keep our creativity flowing!

A Guide To Cozy Mystery Series

Hershman Rights1 Comment

Do you want something suspenseful, but not too scary? A mystery that’s not murder-filled and gory? Something that you can read or listen to but not freak yourself out over? Then, let me welcome you into the world of cozy mystery books. 

A place where all of these things are true. Where you can enjoy the simple pleasures of a mystery book without the nightmares and astray thoughts. 

Elements of a cozy mystery

Protagonist

  • Upstanding citizen (potentially no formal investigation experience).
  • Jobs that entail frequent conversation with people in the town. 
  • They are naturally curious.
  • The key role for them is why they are involved in the mystery.

The Setting

  • Typically set in small towns or communities. 
  • Small enough where everyone knows each other’s dirty laundry. 

The Murder

  • Cozy mysteries are meant to be “light”, meaning they do not typically involve gorey graphic details. 
  • Poison is a popular form of bloodless death among these types of books.
  • Motive for the murder is typically from human emotion: greed, heartbreak, pride, humiliation etc. 

Now that you have some of the staples that go into writing a cozy mystery, go ahead and can write one for yourself! Oh, and don’t forget to add some quirky characters! The protagonist would be nothing without a supporting character.

Here are some cozy mysteries we had the pleasure of turning into audiobooks! Browse for your favorite and enjoy! Happy Spooktober!

Guide To Writing Friends To Lovers

Hershman RightsLeave a comment

Here you will find some tips, some advice and other stuff to hopefully help you in writing your friends to lovers romance!

Don’t forget the roots! It’s a friends to lovers romance after all, so try and make the friendship a big part of the story. The friendship is the upclimb where the conflict and tension builds, so don’t ignore the friendship aspect. Find a way to establish a friendship that is unique. Avoid ‘love at first sight’ and try to create a different kind of connection. Do they have a routine they follow when they are together? Did it start off as playful banter or jokes turned compassion? 

Awkward is okay. Let’s face it, how can anyone go from being friends to lovers without there being a little awkwardness in between. But, it is up to you to choose the kind of awkward. Whether it be cute, sexy ,or comedic depends on how you built the characters. 

Make the reader care. Off the bat the reader doesn’t want to already think everything will work out between the two characters. Hint at the beginning the connection between the characters, but don’t give them a full on romance from the start. Trust your reader to pick up on the little things, and let there be some doubt- a risk involved where the two characters might not be able to work it out.  

These are just a few tips and some helpful advice to get the ball rolling on your friends to lovers romance. Please share any additional tips you may have! And check out some of our authors’ very own friends to lovers novels to give you some inspiration!

Happy Friday!

Cash In With Your Own Billionaire Romance – With Recs!

Hershman RightsLeave a comment

The world of Christian Grey has opened and created an entire universe of billionaire hunks in the romance department (but we all know millionaire or financially stable hunks will also do the trick). If you are thinking about, or already started writing your own next billionaire must read then let’s find out how to make that happen!

The appeal is already there. A character who is highly successful, but lacks the personal life of a ‘nice guy’. Now in most cases the billionaire is male, but there’s no saying you can’t switch it up. That is a whole other door waiting to be opened! 

But back to the what’s what. 

There is more often than not the Cinderella story in this array of romance. The hero has financial security, and tends to offer the heroine security of some sort. That security often ranges somewhere from a business arrangement of getting down and dirty, some form of employment, or the heroine has some family member they have to save. 

Now here comes the nitty gritty. We don’t want a hero that we hate from the start with too much macho. Tension between the hero and heroine is always a plus, but try and stray away from too much of one trait. While the book can be focused on the financials of the hero, money shouldn’t be the main factor for the romance. We need more! The love, passion, secrets and everything that comes with it. Handing stacks of cash up front is an easy game to play. Now throw in an exciting cover and you’re good to go!

Happy Writing


Here are some recommendations from our own authors!

Building Confidence in Your Craft

Hershman RightsLeave a comment

Having confidence as a writer lets you express yourself freely. However, to do so you need confidence in yourself and in your writing! Do you worry that your writing isn’t good enough? Well you are not alone, and we have compiled some ways to lift your writing confidence:

Practice Writing Regularly

Writing is just like any other skill or hobby, and practicing regularly will help you improve. 

Read Widely

You are probably already an avid reader, but try reading something out of your norm. Pick up a new magazine, blog, or a genre out of your comfort zone. You will learn new techniques and find out what resonates with you. 

Learn About Writing 

In order to perfect your craft and build confidence you need to learn the in’s and out’s of writing. Specify the writing you want to go into, creative writing, blogging, memoirs and learn more about it! The more you learn the more you know!

Ask For Feedback 

Asking a fellow writing friend for feedback is a great way to help improve your writing. I know it can be daunting getting your work critiqued, but once you edit based on the feedback you will have more confidence in it!

Submit Your Publication

This one can also be pretty daunting, but if you submit your work to a blog and they post it that is a big confidence boost! Follow the tips above and make it as good as you can before sending it in. You can also enter competitions to get your writing and name out there. There are so many outlets to explore and that is another reason why you not only have to learn about writing, but the writing world as well. It will be easier to navigate once you build yourself a map. 

All your hard work will pay off. 

Happy Writing!

Writing A Book Blurb In 4 Easy Steps — K.M. Allan

Hershman Rights1 Comment

Great post by K.M Allan! We all know how important a book blurb is when it comes to sales. Use these tips and steps to make your next book blurb captivating!

Happy Writing!

Any writer who’s had to write a query or a synopsis for a submission knows how hard it can be. Trying to boil the essence of your carefully crafted story to a few paragraphs, or a page seems like the hardest thing ever. I’m here to tell you it’s not. And that’s because there’s a […]

Writing A Book Blurb In 4 Easy Steps — K.M. Allan

For more information about Hershan Rights Management visit our website!

Hershmanrights.com

Nothing to Writing; Something to Editing

Hershman RightsLeave a comment

Once upon a time, Ernest Hemingway said: There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. Letting words flow onto the page/computer screen or even agonizing over the endless possibilities, “bleeding” is necessary when it comes to writing. Needless to say, writing your article, essay, or novel will always seem like it’s the end of your world. Take whatever you want from this quote, but I’m here to tell you: there may be nothing to writing but there is something to editing. You may quote me.

Since taking a dive into the rabbit hole of writing tools, I’ve come across plenty of helpful apps and websites that assist in writing itself. Getting you out of the writing rut and into the swing of things. But I’ve now found an application like no other: Hemingway App (or Editor.) It’s entirely free! Yes, free!

Hemingway App is a smart tool that calculates your flow of writing. Do you think your sentence is passive? Are you jumping around too much in your paragraph? Has your entire chapter bombed? Copy and paste the text you want Hemingway to look into and it’ll get right to work. It will highlight the bits (in an array of colors.) The colors will signify what you’ll need to specifically look at. A sidebar is on the site to serve as an overview of the colors and what to do when you revisit.

You’re also free to write in the box. Just slide the bar over from ‘Edit’ to ‘Write’ and let your creativity flow.

*Keep in mind: you don’t want to use this for your entire written work. People are great editors too.

For more information about Hershman Rights Management visit our website!

Hershmanrights.com