Writers Helping Writers^®

Resident Writing Coach

Characters in Cars Thinking, or, How to Deal with the Passage of Time

March 22, 2018

Characters in Cars Thinking, or, How to Deal with the Passage of Time

March 22, 2018

I have been seeing a lot of issues around the passage of time in the fiction I have been coaching. It isn’t the content that’s the problem. The problem has…

Deepening Our Story: Theme It Like You Mean It

March 13, 2018

Deepening Our Story: Theme It Like You Mean It

March 13, 2018

Our story’s themes—our messages to readers of what to value or believe—can add depth and meaning to our writing, but to avoid being too on-the-nose, our themes are usually developed…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Creating the Perfect Elevator Pitch

December 19, 2017

Creating the Perfect Elevator Pitch

December 19, 2017

You may think that elevator pitches are only for high-tech startups, job hunters, or Hollywood screenwriters, but being able to succinctly summarize your book in a very short space is…

Episodic vs. Epic: Go Bigger with Your Writing

December 12, 2017

Episodic vs. Epic: Go Bigger with Your Writing

December 12, 2017

One of the most common reasons given by authors for why they write is a desire to create something meaningful for their readers, something that will stick with them or…

10 Ways to Goose the Muse

December 5, 2017

10 Ways to Goose the Muse

December 5, 2017

Calliope, the muse of epic poetry and story, is a fickle goddess. She drops in depending on her mood, tickles the imagination, and then takes off to party with Aphrodite.…