Writers Helping Writers^®

Posts by Lisa Poisso

Your Stakes Are Clear. So Why Doesn’t Anyone Care?

September 1, 2026

Your Stakes Are Clear. So Why Doesn’t Anyone Care?

September 1, 2026

Knowing what a character stands to lose is supposed to get readers invested in their struggle. Stakes you can see coming get readers rooting for a character. They keep readers…

How to Generate Better Story Ideas Using the Ones That Don’t Work

June 2, 2026

How to Generate Better Story Ideas Using the Ones That Don’t Work

June 2, 2026

Generating ideas is the most underrated skill in a novelist’s toolkit—more essential than an appetite for cold-blooded revision, a head for structure, or a gift for dialogue. Generating more story…

How to Write Powerful Story Beats

March 3, 2026

How to Write Powerful Story Beats

March 3, 2026

Dialogue without anything else on the page feels like a screenplay—all setup for actors who will never arrive. In a film, the actors carry the scene. In your novel, the…

The Real Story: Character Journey as Structure

January 22, 2026

The Real Story: Character Journey as Structure

January 22, 2026

Most writers think of story structure as a dry, architectural plot blueprint. Inciting incidents and pinch points and turning points map out the road as the characters stumble through their…

Make Yourself the Most Useful Writer in Your Critique Group

September 1, 2025

Make Yourself the Most Useful Writer in Your Critique Group

September 1, 2025

Critical response process turns you into the critique partner every writer wants: someone who offers actionable observations instead of opinionated fixes. Developed by choreographer Liz Lerman for dance and theater…

Three Strategies for Creating Progressively Escalating Complications

June 3, 2025

Three Strategies for Creating Progressively Escalating Complications

June 3, 2025

Unputdownable stories keep readers off balance, as one scene tips into another, and another, and the next. Each scene’s challenge demands a response, and each response spirals into fresh complications.…

Best Ways to Pace Your Story’s Key Moments

March 4, 2025

Best Ways to Pace Your Story’s Key Moments

March 4, 2025

Great novels don’t hook readers by accident. They strategically build up tension and feelings, then release them at just the right moment. This perfect timing isn’t about fancy writing tricks;…

The Ripple Effect: How to Weave Plot with Character

December 12, 2024

The Ripple Effect: How to Weave Plot with Character

December 12, 2024

Actions have consequences—that’s what makes a story tick. A story begins when events around a character push them into action. Those actions create new situations, and those situations push the…

The Missing Link in Three-Act Structure

September 3, 2024

The Missing Link in Three-Act Structure

September 3, 2024

In any discussion of story structure, the three-act model inevitably dominates the conversation. Even as plotting methods such as Save the Cat, the Hero’s Journey, and the Snowflake Method gain…

The Secret to Page-Turning Scene Endings

June 13, 2024

The Secret to Page-Turning Scene Endings

June 13, 2024

It’s easy to surmise that propelling readers from one scene to the next relies upon a dramatic closing hook, the evocative or provocative impression at the very end of the…