Category Archives: Writing Craft
How to Build Powerful Character Relationships
Character relationships are, in many ways, the glue that holds a story together. Almost every tale has at least one relationship at the heart of it, often more. Rarely can a character sustain a story on their own; they need … Continue reading
Fall in Love with Your Second Act
I love me some Billy Joel. I especially love this song. Granted, it’s a song that deals with a serious issue in a gentle way, but I do think that, on another, lighter level, it can also be applied to our … Continue reading
When ‘Situational’ Writing Works Better Than Plotting
Hi everyone! Help me welcome Brandon Cornett to the blog today, who is discussing a great plotting technique Stephen King uses for people who struggle with plotting. Please read on! Do you have a hard time plotting an entire novel … Continue reading
How Premise Plays into Theme
For many writers, theme is an afterthought–something they may try to figure out once the book is mostly written. But in reality, for a lot of stories, the premise actually promises a theme, or at least, a theme topic. This … Continue reading
How to Find Critique Partners & Beta Readers
Outside feedback is vital to the success of your manuscript. As I’ve quoted many times before on my YouTube channel, according to Terry Pratchett, “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” Our first drafts are imperfect translations … Continue reading
Tools to Make You a More Powerful Writer in 2020
The start of the year is when I pay close attention to what is happening in our industry: what publishers and organizations are focusing on, the changes occurring on sales platforms, and what author advocates are suggesting writers pay attention … Continue reading
Build a Bridge: From Story Beginning to Main Conflict
During one of my previous posts as a Resident Writing Coach, we talked about the importance of strong goals for helping our story move forward. But as we discussed in the comments of that post, our characters can start off … Continue reading
Permission to Play Video Games (Or Read, Draw, Knit, Whatever)
It happens to all of us: at some point, our creative well runs dry. There are lots of reasons for this, and one is that we become so focused on the work that we don’t allow ourselves to have fun. … Continue reading
Scrivener and One Stop for Writers: Perfect Tools For Crafting Powerful Scenes
Many of you know that Angela and I are super excited about One Stop for Writers and how it simplifies the writing process for authors. So when we get notes from writers going on about One Stop’s tools…well. Icing on … Continue reading
Capturing an Unhappy Relationship: A Writer’s Roadmap
Relationships are a complicated beast, and if you write romance like me, then you’re wed (pun intended) to the HEA ending (happily ever after). But the reality is, we have a divorce rate of almost 1 in 2 marriages; so … Continue reading