Category Archives: Writing Craft
What Can the Best Metaphors in Literature Teach Us About Writing?
A big hello and welcome to Savannah Cardova from Reedsy today. She’s got some terrific advice (and resources) on Metaphors, so read on! Life is a highway. Love is a battlefield. All the world’s a stage. Hope is the thing … Continue reading
How To Scare Your Readers Using Deep Point Of View
I love to get geeky about deep point of view and I’m so excited to be a guest writing coach here. *mittened fist bump* What is Deep Point Of View? It’s a writing technique, a strategy, that removes the perceived distance between … Continue reading
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
How Do You Know If Your Protagonist Is Strong Enough?
You can have an incredibly detailed world, adrenaline-spiking action and jaw-dropping plot twists, but unless the character in the driver’s seat is interesting, layered, and memorable, the story will pancake. So building a protagonist (and a story cast) that wows … Continue reading
Writing Feedback: Should We Seek It Out?
As most of you know, Becca and I have been writing and publishing for some time now. Many thing have changed in the industry, including how a book reaches the shelf. Thankfully the slush pile of doom is no longer … 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
Taking a Character from Good to GREAT
FACT: Characters are the heart of a story. The stronger one is, the more powerful your novel will be. In today’s competitive fiction market, there’s no room for okay-ish characters. This is why most writing courses, books, workshops, retreats, etc. … 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
Using Backward Design to Plan Your Story
Weaving a powerful tale is not easy. Whether you pants or plot, ending up with a cohesive tale means understanding the key moments in a story. Today’s post by Angelica Hartgers offers up a great technique to use if plotting … 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