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Raise the Stakes By Making It Personal

March 8, 2018

Raising the stakes by making the consequences personal to the protagonist means they are motivated to fix the problem or act to achieve a certain story goal.

Raise the Stakes By Making It Personal

March 8, 2018

Compelling novels have many different ingredients that make them fascinating to read, but one standard components is a healthy, continual dose of ACTION. The protagonist is always doing something: weighing…

Garlic Breath For Writers (aka, Bad First Pages)

March 6, 2018

Garlic Breath For Writers (aka, Bad First Pages)

March 6, 2018

“If you cannot write a compelling opening scene, from the opening sentence, I’m not going to finish your proposal.” – Agent, speaking at a recent writers conference The opening page…

Three Ways The Setting Can Steer Your Story’s Plot

March 1, 2018

Three Ways The Setting Can Steer Your Story’s Plot

March 1, 2018

The setting is a powerful force. Not only does it evoke mood, create tension and conflict, allow you to share critical backstory in a non-dumpy way, and draw readers deeper…

Want Memorable Characters? Focus on the Little Things

February 22, 2018

Want Memorable Characters? Focus on the Little Things

February 22, 2018

I love building characters. In fact, “building” is apt, because for me, they come a piece at a time. A brick or two might lock into place as I wrestle…

Mapping Your Story’s Setting

February 20, 2018

Mapping Your Story’s Setting

February 20, 2018

As writers, we do our best to know our story’s setting as intimately as we know our characters. We can visualize the buildings, rooms, and geographic landscape. Maybe we even…

Milestones that Provide a Valuable Opportunity to Look Back

February 11, 2018

Milestones that Provide a Valuable Opportunity to Look Back

February 11, 2018

So, funny story. In January, Becca and I hit 10 years of blogging. TEN YEARS. That’s a lot of time, but also not a lot of time, because we all…

Writing By Design Part 2: Pattern and Repetition

February 6, 2018

Writing By Design Part 2: Pattern and Repetition

February 6, 2018

In my previous installment, I introduced you to writing by design and how you can use techniques from the visual arts to inform your writing. In particular, we looked at…

What Does Your Protagonist Want BEFORE the Story Starts?

January 23, 2018

What Does Your Protagonist Want BEFORE the Story Starts?

January 23, 2018

Imagine getting up in the morning and not wanting anything (not even coffee). No, seriously, try. Imagine having no agenda. Sure, that may sound great for a bit – especially…

Best of the Best: Free Resources to Power Up Your Writing

January 4, 2018

The very best writing resources for writers.

Best of the Best: Free Resources to Power Up Your Writing

January 4, 2018

It doesn’t take many visits to see that providing writers with what they need to succeed is pretty serious business around here. And because the ‘ol pocketbook can be a…

Three Powerful Techniques To Harness A Reader’s Curiosity

January 2, 2018

Three Powerful Techniques To Harness A Reader’s Curiosity

January 2, 2018

Psychology has spent over a century studying human behavior; our emotions, thoughts, needs and wants, what draws us in and what pushes us away. This means psychology can teach us…