Writers Helping Writers^®

Posts by Angela Ackerman

Talents and Skills Thesaurus: Astral Projection

February 14, 2015

Talents and Skills Thesaurus: Astral Projection

February 14, 2015

Choosing a talent or skill that fits with your character’s personality, lifestyle, and values can go a long way to helping them break free of the common stereotypes seen so…

The Art of Story: When Telling Trumps Showing

February 3, 2015

The Art of Story: When Telling Trumps Showing

February 3, 2015

Show, don’t tell advice helps us craft immersive fiction because showing involves readers, but this doesn’t mean there’s no place for telling. Telling is necessary sometimes, and a story will…

Talent and Skill Entry: Enhanced Taste Buds

January 31, 2015

Talent and Skill Entry: Enhanced Taste Buds

January 31, 2015

Choosing a talent or skill that fits with your character’s personality, lifestyle, and values can go a long way to helping them break free of the common stereotypes seen so…

Show, Don’t Tell: Revealing True Emotion In Dialogue

January 22, 2015

Show, Don’t Tell: Revealing True Emotion In Dialogue

January 22, 2015

Very few things pull people in like conversation. After all, when someone speaks, they are making themselves vulnerable to others. How? Because words are steeped in thoughts, beliefs and emotions.…

Talents and Skills Entry: Farming

January 17, 2015

Talents and Skills Entry: Farming

January 17, 2015

Choosing a talent or skill that fits with your character’s personality, lifestyle, and values can go a long way to helping them break free of the common stereotypes seen so…

100K Book Milestone: Celebrate With Us & Win

January 12, 2015

100K Book Milestone: Celebrate With Us & Win

January 12, 2015

Well, it happened. Our small, unusual trio of writing books have officially sold 100,000 copies, which is so freaking incredible. When we launched The Emotion Thesaurus in May of 2012…

Writing 101: Building a Balanced Character

January 7, 2015

Writing 101: Building a Balanced Character

January 7, 2015

Here’s the truth about compelling characters: they’re neither good nor bad, perfect nor fundamentally flawed. Instead, they’re all of these things. Each character has a set of good, admirable qualities…

Writing Patterns Into Fiction: Scene and Sequel

January 5, 2015

Writing Patterns Into Fiction: Scene and Sequel

January 5, 2015

Raven Oak joins us to talk about the successful pattern of Scene and Sequel. When I began writing seriously—not the scribbles in a notebook of plots I’d write someday or…

10 Reasons Why Your Protagonist Needs Flaws

December 14, 2014

10 Reasons Why Your Protagonist Needs Flaws

December 14, 2014

When we see the word Hero or Heroine, we think heroic, which is ironic as they are often jaded, lost, and brimming with flaws and false beliefs about the world…

Overcome Your Book Doubts By Asking WHY

December 10, 2014

Overcome Your Book Doubts By Asking WHY

December 10, 2014

Doubt – soul-crushing worry that we are not capturing our story well enough – can snuff out a novel and the writer’s spirit. Jennie Nash has some excellent insight for…