Category Archives: Resident Writing Coach
Diversity in Fiction: Writing the Character You’re Afraid to Write
In the last two years, diversity in fiction has become more and more prevalent. We’ve seen blockbuster film and TV hits from award winning books like The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas or Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. The … Continue reading
Writerly Procrastination: Why It Happens & How To Break Free of It
I don’t mean to brag, but procrastination is my superpower, one that I’ve honed through years of dedicated training. In the course of writing this post, I’ve come up with an idea for another post (and made notes on it), … Continue reading
Meet Our Newest Resident Writing Coaches!
It’s hard to believe, but we’re about to kick start Year 4 of our popular Resident Writing Coach program! For those of you new to the blog, the RWC program is where we invite some of the best minds in … Continue reading
Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Satisfaction
Welcome to the final post in this four-part series on ANTS. As I mentioned in my first post, ANTS is a goal-oriented framework for storytelling. It’s what you’re trying to achieve by making great characters, settings, and plots for your … Continue reading
Avoiding Change: What’s Stopping Our Characters?
Stories are about change. Our characters’ world is changing around them, or they’re changing internally—or both. Yet at the same time, we know change is hard. In our own lives, we struggle to change our habits or take steps to … Continue reading
How Realistic Should Your Action Scenes Be?
At a conference some time ago I was on a panel with some fellow thriller writers. During the Q & A we got this question from the floor: “How can I learn to write a good action scene?” I answered … Continue reading
4 Keys to a Powerful Denouement
Often as writers, we put a lot of our focus on the starting, climax, and middle of a story, and the denouement or falling action may be somewhat of an afterthought. If you grew up like me, you were kind … Continue reading
Motivation for Character Arc: A Different Approach
When it comes to discovering and writing about your character’s motivation, there are a dozen different methods. We can get there by any number of roads—most of which originate in the planning stage. But what if the key to unlocking … Continue reading
Why Writers Shouldn’t Query Self-Published Books
Have you self-published a novel you had originally intended to send to literary agents (to see how it did)? Or, did you self-publish a novel, decide that publishing path wasn’t for you, and now want to send that book to … Continue reading
Three Simple Questions That Will Unlock Your Story
Writers are the most powerful people on the planet. Yes, you! You have the power to change your readers in a more profound way than almost anyone else they encounter. How? By allowing them to experience, first hand, the profound … Continue reading