Zainah Yousef

Self-publishing is not a new concept, but it’s definitely picked up a lot in recent years. For a long time, there was a sort of reputation that had been built up around self-published books in that many believed they were of lesser quality, were poorly written, or not worth the time to read. Fortunately, we’ve […]

One of my favorite genres in literature aside from fantasy has to be the thriller genre. It also happens to be one of my favorites in movies and TV shows as well, and it tends to be a very popular genre in general. A thriller requires a lot of different elements besides just action, as

A prologue often sits at the very beginning of the book and serves as a sort of strange introduction to the story you’re about to read. At first, the prologue may seem confusing, introduce strange characters and places, or throw you into the middle of the story at a random point. However, the prologue actually

Writing challenges are always a really good way to get yourself into the writing mood and to actually push yourself to get on that manuscript you’ve been juggling ideas for. Of course, the most famous writing challenge probably ever is NaNoWriMo. I’ve engaged with NaNoWriMo plenty of times before, including Camp NaNoWriMo and I really

The descent into madness is an arc in many character-driven stories where we as readers get to see how a character goes from a stable individual to someone who has essentially cracked and has lost their sanity or has turned to a much darker path. This is one of the most interesting character arcs you

If you’re entering the world of writing books, you’ve likely already heard about the idea of beta readers. The writing process itself is a lengthy one that requires drafts, revisions, and feedback before the final product is complete. Beta readers are one aspect of the revision process and can be a vital one to getting

Suspense is a powerful story-telling technique that we see quite a lot in thrillers, horror, action and  more. Suspense is a great way to blend tension, quick and slow pacing, plot twists and more to keep the story dynamic and exciting. Most of the time, suspense gives us that feeling that we’re sitting on the

The lone wolf character archetype is one that we’ve seen quite often in books, movies, video games, and more. The idea of the lone wolf is complex and intriguing and can create a really interesting foundation for any story to build off of. The lone wolf tends to operate in a solo mentality and this

Villains are some of the most versatile, dynamic, and interesting characters in any story. A well-developed, compelling villain will make a reader more engaged with the story versus a story where the villain feels like a generic bad guy. I’ve talked before about creating villains that are compelling, but what about those villains that we