8 Mistakes to Avoid

in Your Fantasy Novel’s Opening

Don’t let common mistakes lose your readers!

Your Novel Matters ...

Looking for the right book coach for your fantasy novel?

  • Are you a fantasy writer … 

    … struggling to convert the vivid scenes of your fantasy novel from your imagination to the page?

    … stuck in a loop where you constantly rewrite your opening pages?

    … worried your story won’t resonate with your readers?

What if I could show you the exact steps week to week that would take you from brainstorming and drafting to revising and publication?

I specialize in developmental editing and book coaching for writers of fantasy novels—writers who value the craft of storytelling and wish to create stories that resonate.

My Services

Develop Your Ideas

Fantasy Footsteps: Road to Publication

I’ll let you in on a secret. All you need to succeed as a writer are three things:

  • A Roadmap: Illuminate your path with a step-by-step guide, ensuring you achieve your writing goals every week. From outlining to publishing, every stage of your journey is mapped out for success.

  • Mindset Mastery: Learn how your thoughts control your outcomes in your writing. Overcome self-doubt and unearth the confidence that will bring your unique ideas to life on the page.

  • Personalized Support: Prepare for comprehensive assistance, real-time accountability, and feedback tailored to your needs. From brainstorming sessions to final publication, you'll have a dedicated ally guiding you every step of the way.

With these three pillars, you'll unlock the potential to:

  • Craft a captivating story that enthralls readers from the first page to the last.

  • Develop complex characters and immersive worlds that resonate deeply with your audience.

  • Navigate the complexities of plot twists and pacing, keeping readers hooked until the final chapter.

  • Receive specific guidance on refining your scenes so that readers root for your protagonist.

  • Overcome writer's block and stay motivated throughout your writing journey, ensuring consistent progress.

  • Transform your rough draft into a polished, professional manuscript ready for publication.

Are you ready to turn your fantasy novel from a mere vision into a masterpiece that captures hearts and minds?

Join Fantasy Footsteps: Road to Publication and begin your author journey with everything you need to write a story that works. 

Don't let your story remain trapped in your mind—bring it to life with me!


If you’re thinking, “Yes, please! Tell me what to do!” , I’d like to invite you to work one-to-one with me to finish your novel and write a story that works. Join my book coaching program designed specifically for fantasy writers—Fantasy Footsteps: Road to Publication.

Discover Helpful Tools

Resources For Writers

Here you will find some of my favorite resources for writers.

Add these books, podcasts, websites, and other resources to your writing toolbox to augment your writing at any stage.

Join My Free, Private Facebook Group

Finish My Fantasy Novel: Write & Revise My Best Book in 6 Months

In the group, I go live weekly with writing tips. The group is also a platform for writers to support each other and share their wins and progress.

Live training schedule:

  • 1st Tuesday of the month: Free critique for someone in the group!

  • 2nd Tuesday of the month: Writing sprint with fellow writers

  • 3rd Tuesday of the month: Live training on a specific topic

  • 4th Tuesday of the month: Interview with an author or marketing/business expert

Improve Your Craft

Writing Advice Blog

As a developmental editor and book coach, everything I post is designed to help you build your creativity, strengthen your prose, and explore new avenues in your writing. The opinions in each post are my own, but many are inspired by ideas from established authors and editors who excel in their fields.

Rely on my blog for clear and specific writing advice, motivational tips and grammatical aid, and interviews with experts!

Hi! I'm Nicole.

I’m a Developmental

Editor & Book Coach for Fantasy Writers.

Like you, I'm a writer. I understand the mental and emotional ups and downs of storytelling. Don't let resistance win! Recognize the value of good advice plus hard work.

My approach to novel writing is multifaceted. For a deeper understanding of my process and style, take a look at some of my favorite craft-of-writing books in my Resources section.

What can I say about myself? I read, I write, I read about writing, and I write about reading. It never gets old to me.

See what writers like you are saying . . .

Nadir Shirazi

“I’ve been stalling on my Islam-inspired sci-fantasy series for 10 years. But within 10 minutes of starting Nicole’s program, I started writing again."

Amanda Emerick

“I can’t recommend Fantasy Footsteps enough to writers who are legitimately looking to polish their craft, write, and eventually publish their novel."

Trinity Cunningham

“I loved discussing my story with Nicole. She provided me with invaluable insights I never would have considered on my own."

Latest on the Blog

You will find no pictures of kittens here. No images of favorite dessert recipes, snapshots of my recent vacations, videos of puppies playing the piano (although I do love dogs), or YouTube clips of monkeys stealing people’s sunglasses.

I’m genuinely sorry if that disappoints you.

Instead, you can rely on my blog for clear and specific writing advice, motivational tips, grammatical aid, and author/editor interviews.

As a developmental editor & book coach, everything I post is designed to help you build your creativity, strengthen your prose, and explore new avenues in your writing. The opinions in each post are my own, but many are inspired by ideas from established authors and editors who excel in their fields.

Some of these tips might be just what you need to hear. Others might not work for you personally, and that’s okay.

Apply the tips that fit your personality and writing habits, and feel free to adapt or ignore the others. For further questions and comments, you can email me or reach me through my Contact page.

Self-Publishing Tips to Save You Thousands of Dollars and Years of Misery: Interview with Pete Cliff

Self-Publishing Tips to Save You Thousands of Dollars and Years of Misery: Interview with Pete Cliff

July 20, 20248 min read

Discover in this post …

  • the biggest mistake a multi-award-winning indie author made in his early writing career—and how he fixed it.

  • items to avoid when planning and writing your novel.

  • items to avoid when revising and launching your novel.


In this post, I interviewed Pete Cliff, a multi-award-winning, internationally selling indie author with ten published books (most of which are under the name P.C. Darkcliff). He told me he's no stranger to mistakes when it comes to writing and publishing. During his early career, he struggled to finish badly plotted novels. Then he wrote good novels but marketed them to the wrong audience. He wasted thousands of dollars on disastrous advertising campaigns and mostly useless courses.

Having spent years in the self-publishing trenches, he’s excited to share his hard-learned lessons with newbie authors to help them along their writing journey.


Nicole Whisler Writing Coach

Nicole - Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Pete! Your new book on self-publishing, 50 Self-Publishing Mistakes to Avoid, came out on June 25. What inspired you to take a break from your epic fantasy books to write this one?

Pete - Thanks for having me, Nicole, I’m happy to be here! It kind of started as a joke. I was talking to a writer friend about all the blunders I’d made, and I said they were enough for a book. And he was like, “Wow, you should go for it!” and so I did. Some people say that this kind of book might generate more profit than my fiction books. Let’s see if it’s true!


Nicole - What do you feel is the biggest success of your author career so far? Where are you now compared with where you started?

Nicole Whisler Edits Book Coach

Pete - I can’t really pinpoint one thing, but so far, I’ve had my biggest success with the epic fantasy series I recently finished: The Magic Circle. At least, now I see an everyday movement on my sales dashboard, and I make a three-figure monthly income. It’s not enough to retire, of course, but it’s much better than what I was making with my previous series. I’ve learned from my errors, and I hope that others will do the same. That’s why I wrote 50 Mistakes.

Nicole - What’s the biggest mistake you made in your early writing career, and how did you go about fixing it?

Pete - I’ve got quite a few to choose from, but I guess the biggest one was pantsing, i.e. not plotting my books. I spent years and years working on a draft that really had no plot and went nowhere, and which I never finished. Then I started outlining my books chapter by chapter (more on that in Chapter 12 of 50 Self-Publishing Mistakes to Avoid) and now I can finish the first draft in a few weeks.

Nicole - Let’s dive into some of the mistakes you’ve written about in your book. Your advice is organized into seven categories: Preparation, The First Draft, Revisions, Pre-Launch, Launch, Post-Launch, and Sequels. Although your full book explores each category in depth, can you give us a single piece of advice from each of the seven sections?

Pete - Sure!

1: Preparation

I mention eleven mistakes in that section, but the gravest is planning a standalone novel. An indie writer needs to have a long backlist and establish a brand before royalties start to trickle in, and it’s very hard to do with a bunch of disconnected novels. If you have a series, you can do cool stuff like offer Book 1 at a discounted price to attract new readers, put the installments into a box set or an omnibus for extra profit, or write a prequel novella to get people to join your mailing list. More on that in my book. ;)

2: The First Draft

I’ve already mentioned plotting the draft carefully, and the second most important thing is to keep your target readers firmly in mind and make sure you meet their expectations. Remember that many people read by subgenre, and each subgenre has its characteristics readers expect to see over and over again. Basically, give people a fresh and original story, but stick to the good old tropes of the genre.

3: Revisions

The tip that can save new writers most time is this: don’t write the second draft from scratch. If you plotted your novel carefully, and if you created strong characters, the first draft only needs tweaking and polishing that you can do right on the screen. I used to print the first draft out, underline weak spots, make notes on the margins, and then rewrite the whole thing. It took me months and didn’t add anything to the story. You need to offer readers a tight, polished story, but rewriting is a waste of time.

4: Pre-Launch

Don’t cheap out on the cover. Contrary to the popular saying, people do judge a book by its cover because that’s the first thing they see. You can have the best book in the world, but if the packaging is cheap or unprofessional, nobody will ever open it. There is a good reason why full-time writers spend more than $1,000 on each cover. You don’t need to spend as much, but you do need to budget for the packaging. The cover, the title, and the blurb must be top-notch, or your book will never take off.

5: Launch

Don’t launch your book and then start looking for its audience. Do it the other way around.

6: Post-Launch

If your book is Amazon-exclusive, take advantage of free promotions. As I mentioned in 50 Mistakes, I made my box set free for several days, paid a measly $10 to a promoter for mentioning the book in its daily email, and since then I’ve got a lot of reviews and my sales have increased.

7: Sequels

Do not only plot the installments. Make sure you have an idea where the series is going in general because if you don’t, you might write yourself into a corner, just like yours truly.

Nicole - Those are excellent ways to save indie writers time, effort, and money. If they follow your advice, how long should authors expect it to take before they start making a profit in their writing career?

Pete - Oooh, that’s a very difficult question! It all depends on their luck, talent, marketing skills, the speed at which they publish their books, and the genre they write in. As I mentioned before, you need a long backlist before you break even. There are no shortcuts, and to be honest, in many cases, self-publishing can be an expensive hobby rather than a daily bread. But I do believe that my book can save people lots of time because it deals with all stages of self-publishing and each chapter includes an exercise that makes the process easier and faster.

Nicole - What do you like best about being an author? And what would you say to someone who’s in love with writing but worried they won’t be able to get their author career off the ground?

Pete - I’ve been writing since I was a kid, and it’s part of my life. I love creating new characters and giving them lives and souls, and building new realms and populating them with fantastic creatures and races. Of course, I’m really needy, so perhaps the best thing is getting positive feedback from my readers. I’m happy to say that lately there’s been lots of it.

If you worry about your career, you need to know the dos and don’ts. My book on 50 Mistakes might be a good start, but there are many other books on self-publishing and marketing.

Nicole - What are your future writing plans? Will you return to your epic fantasy?

Nicole Whisler Edits Book Coach

Pete - I had a lot of fun writing 50 Mistakes, and I’m thrilled that so many writers have found it useful. Helping fellow writers is immensely satisfying but right now, I don’t have ideas for more nonfiction books.

I’m working on a new epic fantasy series, Shattered Empire. I’ve drafted the prequel novella, Realm of Steel and Fire, and the series opener, Of Ashes and Blood. Then I’ll draft Books 2 and 3 so I can rapid release the series in 2025.

Nicole - Thanks for your time! What’s the best way readers and writers can connect with you and find your books?

Nicole Whisler Edits Book Coach

Pete - Thank you for the opportunity! 50 Self-Publishing Mistakes to Avoid is available on Amazon, and this link will take you to your local store.

In case you like epic fantasy, you can check out my finished series.

You can also reach me at [email protected] or join my FB group, The Writer’s Den.

Anyone with questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you!


Has this interview encouraged you to move forward with your self-publishing goals? Or pick up a copy of 50 Mistakes? Have you made any of the above mistakes yourself? I'd love for you to email me at [email protected] or message me on Facebook to let me know!


Do you want to learn how to write a story that makes your target readers stand up and cheer? If you’d like support from A to Z (from brainstorming to drafting to revising to publication), book a Discovery Call with me to see if you’re a good fit to join my book coaching program, Fantasy Footsteps: Road to Publication. And if you haven’t done so already, grab your Free Guide on how to hook readers from your story’s start!


Nicole Whisler Writing Coach

Back to Blog

Capture Your Readers from Your First Scene

Download my exclusive guide—8 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Fantasy Novel’s Opening. Start your fantasy novel right!

Are you worried you've failed to establish a bond between readers and characters in your first chapter? Do you wonder if you've bogged readers down with your worldbuilding? Do you sometimes overlook essential conflicts? Many readers will put your book down if it doesn't grab their attention right away, so it's vital to evoke powerful emotions from readers as early as possible.

Don't let these common mistakes rob your story of its magic and momentum. Save your precious time and energy by ensuring you hook readers from the start. Grab your guide now and check your opening against these common missteps!

(You will also receive monthly writing advice, updates about my free live trainings, and direct access to replays. Unsubscribe anytime.)

Ready to Get Started?

@2024 Whisler Edits. All Rights Reserved.