J.D. Barker

You get one shot. That’s it. One chapter. One page. Sometimes just one sentence. If your reader isn’t hooked, they’re not turning to the next page. They’re closing the book, backing out of the Kindle sample or walking away from the shelf. More…

If you want your book to stick with readers long after they’ve finished it, don’t just build a stock antagonist. Build someone that readers can’t stop thinking about. More…

Readers come to the page looking for escape — but what hooks them isn’t the strange, it’s the familiar made strange.

There’s an apocryphal anecdote about Hemingway being challenged to write a complete story, with all the emotional impact of one of his own short stories, in just six words. Hemingway offered a tale of an ordinary object:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn …Read More

We can’t imagine why anyone would want to spoil the fun like that. But plot twist… those readers aren’t out to ruin the experience. They’re trying to trust you. More…