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Writing Craft

Occupation Thesaurus Entry: Corrections Officer

March 3, 2018

Occupation Thesaurus Entry: Corrections Officer

March 3, 2018

Jobs are as important for our characters as they are for real people. A character’s career might be their dream job or one they’ve chosen due to necessity. In your…

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…

Occupation Thesaurus: Architect

February 24, 2018

Occupation Thesaurus: Architect

February 24, 2018

Jobs are as important for our characters as they are for real people. A character’s career might be their dream job or one they’ve chosen due to necessity. In your…

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…

Occupation Thesaurus: Personal Assistant to a Celebrity

February 17, 2018

Occupation Thesaurus: Personal Assistant to a Celebrity

February 17, 2018

Jobs are as important for our characters as they are for real people. A character’s career might be their dream job or one they’ve chosen due to necessity. In your…

How to Write Introspection Well: Show “Just Enough”

February 13, 2018

How to Write Introspection Well: Show “Just Enough”

February 13, 2018

Nothing can quite kill a story’s pacing like a big hunk of rambling introspection, except, of course, its cousin, the info dump. The reason for this is that the more…

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…

Occupation Thesaurus Entry: Funeral Director

February 10, 2018

Occupation Thesaurus Entry: Funeral Director

February 10, 2018

Jobs are as important for our characters as they are for real people. A character’s career might be their dream job or one they’ve chosen due to necessity. In your…

Characters As Mirrors

February 8, 2018

Characters As Mirrors

February 8, 2018

I’ve been thinking lately about something that Angela and I touch on in all of our books: The Mirror of Real Life. It’s this idea that something in our stories…