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Setting Description Mistakes that Weaken a Story

When you think about the key elements of storytelling, characters and plot immediately come to mind, but what about the setting? Do you view it as 1) a vital story component, or 2) just the place where story events happen? If you picked 1, nice job. If you picked 2, no worries. Go here, scroll … [Read more...] about Setting Description Mistakes that Weaken a Story

Fear Thesaurus Entry: Conflict

Debilitating fears are a problem for everyone, an unfortunate part of the human experience. Whether they're a result of learned behavior as a child, are related to a mental illness, or stem from a past wounding event, these fears influence a character's behaviors, habits, beliefs, and personality … [Read more...] about Fear Thesaurus Entry: Conflict

9 Tension-Building Elements For Character Dialogue

By Becca Puglisi I’ve been thinking a lot about dialogue lately, because when it’s done poorly, it pulls me right out of the story. There are a lot of issues that contribute to weak dialogue: incorrect mechanics, stilted speech, characters calling each other repeatedly by name (Hi, Bob. Hey, … [Read more...] about 9 Tension-Building Elements For Character Dialogue

The Sites I Recommend the Most to Writers

By Angela Ackerman So, three things about me: I like to help (really, I'm a bit psycho about it - be warned)I like to build unique storytelling tools I like to share great resource finds with other writers Online, I try to match people with the information they need. Sometimes people … [Read more...] about The Sites I Recommend the Most to Writers

Fear Thesaurus Entry: Certain Kinds of People

Choosing the Right Job for Your Character

By Becca Puglisi As human beings, our work is very important. Choosing a career is one of the biggest decisions we make in life, and we often put a ton of time and energy into it. But what about our characters’ jobs? How much thought do we put into that? We authors recognize the … [Read more...] about Choosing the Right Job for Your Character

Is My Story A Mystery, Horror or Thriller?

By Lucy V Hay Lots of writers enjoy mystery, horror and thriller novels … but are not too sure what differentiates them. As a result, when they attempt their own, they might get stuck. As a script editor in the UK who’s worked on predominantly horror and thriller, plus as an author myself who … [Read more...] about Is My Story A Mystery, Horror or Thriller?

Fear Thesaurus Entry: Being Capable of Harm

Scenes vs. Sequels: What’s a Good Balance?

By Jami Gold We use the terms scene and sequel for so many definitions when it comes to writing that it can be difficult (not to mention confusing) to discuss Dwight Swain’s ideas of “scenes and sequels” (from his Techniques of the Selling Writer). But if we understand his insights, we can take a … [Read more...] about Scenes vs. Sequels: What’s a Good Balance?

Phenomenal First Pages Contest

Hey, wonderful writerly people! It’s time for our monthly first-page critique contest 🙂 This contest is closed. Please try again next month. If you’d like to be notified when the next one goes live, consider subscribing to the blog (in the sidebar). If you’re working on a first page (in … [Read more...] about Phenomenal First Pages Contest