Category Archives: worldbuilding

The Best Resource for Planning Your NaNoWriMo Novel

Posted on October 22, 2020 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

Can you believe it? We’re less than 10 days from the biggest, craziest, event in Writerville: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). That means 50,000 words written in one month, and all the coffee, stale pizza, and Skittles you need to … Continue reading →

Posted in Character Arc, Characters, Motivation, Motivational, NaNoWriMo Strategy & Support, One Stop For Writers, research, Software and Services, Time Management, Tools and Resources, Uncategorized, worldbuilding, Writing Resources, Writing Time | 3 Comments

Character Introductions: Making the Right Impression

Posted on June 9, 2020 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

Many aspects of writing can be hard to get right, especially in our first draft. For just two examples: With our story beginning, we might struggle to find a good balance between a throat-clearing boring scene (before getting to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Backstory, Basic Human Needs, Character Arc, Characters, Conflict, Description, Emotion, Motivation, Openings, Resident Writing Coach, Revision and Editing, worldbuilding, Writing Craft, Writing Lessons | 12 Comments

How to Describe a Location You’ve Never Visited

Posted on April 23, 2020 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

One of the big decisions writers make is whether to choose a real location for the backdrop of their overall story or create one of their own imaginings. Crafting a world from scratch can be a lot of work (requiring … Continue reading →

Posted in About Us, Conflict, Mood and Atmosphere, One Stop For Writers, Setting, Setting Thesaurus Guides, Show Don't Tell, Tools and Resources, Uncategorized, worldbuilding, Writing Craft, Writing Lessons | 9 Comments

Mastering Show, Don’t Tell

Posted on December 5, 2019 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

We hear it over and over: Show, don’t tell. You can’t get away from this advice, not in writing workshops, at conferences, or heck, even when visiting this blog. Writers Helping Writers and the thesaurus work we do is all … Continue reading →

Posted in Balance, Characters, Mood and Atmosphere, One Stop For Writers, Revision and Editing, Setting, Show Don't Tell, Tools and Resources, Uncategorized, worldbuilding, Writing Craft, Writing Lessons | 15 Comments

World-building: Creating a Credible Magic System

Posted on July 25, 2019 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

Hi everyone! Today we have a new face at the blog: author and ghostwriter Justin Attas. He’s in love with world-building and has some great ideas on how to ensure the magic systems we create are credible and logical, enhancing … Continue reading →

Posted in Backstory, Characters, Description, Guest Post, Setting, Show Don't Tell, worldbuilding, Writing Craft, Writing Lessons | 12 Comments