Category Archives: Writing Lessons
How to Get Emotion Onto the Page
It is a truth universally acknowledged: you have to hook the reader right out of the starting gate. From the very first sentence your story must incite that delicious sense of urgency that makes readers have to know what happens next. But … Continue reading
All-Important Considerations When Crafting a Scene
Pleased to welcome C.S. Lakin back to the blog for a tremendously helpful post on what to keep in the front of your mind when crafting a scene. Read on and bookmark this great list! Anyone who says writing a … Continue reading
Want Readers to Fall in Love With Your Hero? Create The Perfect Hero Lens
We writers worry about all sorts of things: traits, arcs, themes, motives etc. But even when we’ve got all of those things sorted, bridging the gap between the black ink and the reader’s heart can still require something more… That … Continue reading
Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Attachment
Imagine you’re playing your first game of Scrabble with a friend. You haven’t been taught the rules of the game, but you know the general idea is to make words and place them on the game board. Your friend gives … Continue reading
Rules? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Rules
After we’ve been writing for a while, we’ve heard our share of writing rules. Sometimes we’re taught to avoid certain techniques, like prologues. Or we might be told that some storytelling approaches are too risky, such as using second-person point … Continue reading
Beginnings and Backstory
You will find writers who argue that there should be no backstory at all in your first chapters. Why not? Because, by definition, backstory is what has happened before your narrative opens, and you want to establish the action first, … Continue reading
Character Arc and Narrative Arc
Character arc: someone living their life Narrative arc: the things that happen when someone lives their life When I worked with children, I’d always teach them the simple, zen fact: every sentence has a subject and verb. Someone does something. I’d tell … Continue reading
Context, Text, and Subtext: What They Are and How They Help Storytelling
In writing tips, we talk about text a lot. But I feel like we don’t talk enough about context and subtext in this industry. Both are vital to good storytelling and often misunderstood or even mixed up. So today I … Continue reading
The Powerball of First Page Resources
As many of you know, I run a monthly critique contest here at the blog, where I offer to read first pages and share my feedback. People are so grateful to win, but I have to ask: who’s the real … Continue reading
How to Nail the First Three Pages
Let’s face it, talking about writing the first pages of a novel is stressful. It can strike terror into the heart of even the most seasoned writer, because as writers we all know how scarily narrow the window is, and … Continue reading