Writers Helping Writers^®

Writing Craft

Character Motivation Thesaurus: Escaping a Killer

October 22, 2016

Character Motivation Thesaurus: Escaping a Killer

October 22, 2016

What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story’s end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is…

How to Choose Settings that Have Emotional Impact

October 20, 2016

How to Choose Settings that Have Emotional Impact

October 20, 2016

Generic settings won’t cut it if you want readers to feel the story–instead, your locations need emotional impact as this immerses them better in the point-of-view character’s experience. Shared experiences…

Finding Your Way Into Your Story

October 18, 2016

Finding Your Way Into Your Story

October 18, 2016

I recently avoided a workshop assignment that should have been completed in no more than an hour because I couldn’t find a way into my story. This workshop generates significant,…

Motivation Thesaurus: Stopping an Event from Happening

October 15, 2016

Motivation Thesaurus: Stopping an Event from Happening

October 15, 2016

What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story’s end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is…

New: A Resident Writing Coach Program

October 11, 2016

New: A Resident Writing Coach Program

October 11, 2016

Our mission, as you all know, is to help our visitors become stronger writers. And while we do our best to craft insightful posts week after week, we also believe…

Character Motivation Thesaurus: Rescuing Someone from a Captor

October 1, 2016

Character Motivation Thesaurus: Rescuing Someone from a Captor

October 1, 2016

What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story’s end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is…

How to Become a Stronger Writer (Resources!)

September 29, 2016

How to Become a Stronger Writer (Resources!)

September 29, 2016

Being September, education is on my mind, reinforcing how important it is to stretch ourselves to become stronger writers. I know writers who feel they ‘know’ enough because they’ve read…

How Your Character’s Misbelief Drives Plot

September 27, 2016

How Your Character’s Misbelief Drives Plot

September 27, 2016

Welcome to story coach Lisa Cron, who’s sharing thoughts on the protagonist’s inner struggle and how defining the why behind it is the key to unlocking a powerful story that…

Character Motivation Thesaurus: Having a Child

September 24, 2016

Character Motivation Thesaurus: Having a Child

September 24, 2016

What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story’s end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is…

Introducing The Character Motivation Thesaurus

September 21, 2016

Introducing The Character Motivation Thesaurus

September 21, 2016

Exciting days are here–a new thesaurus we think will be really helpful, because it is at the heart of every story: The Character Motivation Thesaurus This thesaurus will help you…