Category Archives: Writing Lessons
The Character-Building Detail Writers Shouldn’t Overlook
The farther I get into this writing and coaching career, the more I find myself talking about details and how important it is to get them right. Whether we’re figuring out which backstory information to include or are writing characterization, … Continue reading
Sneek-A-Peek at The Occupation Thesaurus: FIREFIGHTER
July 20th is just around the corner and so we thought we’d tee up one of the entries inside the newest volume in the Writers Helping Writers Descriptive Thesaurus series. About this book… Characters are as complex as people and … Continue reading
How To Avoid A Half-Baked Idea
Half-baked ideas are everywhere in the spec pile. But what does ‘half-baked’ mean? After all, whether a script reader, agent’s assistant or intern LIKES the idea behind a story is another matter. Let’s look to the dictionary to agree on … Continue reading
Character Introductions: Making the Right Impression
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
This Happened…and Then This Happened: The Dangers of Anecdotal Writing
Does your story suffer from anecdotal writing? It’s an important question, because that’s what happens when we write this way: our stories suffer. Michelle Barker is here to explain what anecdotal writing is, how to identify it, and ways to … Continue reading
3 Ways to Differentiate Your Characters
We’ve invited Resident Writing Coach Sacha Black to give us an extra dose of wisdom as she’s just released a new book that I think will help a lot of writers: Anatomy of Prose: 12 Steps to Sensational Sentences. This … Continue reading
Character Building: How Much Planning Should I Do? (PART 1)
Not sure how much brainstorming needs to go into each character? You’re not alone. It’s a struggle for many, and unfortunately, there’s no single “right” answer. It really depends on the character’s importance in the story, their function or role, … Continue reading
Might as Well Jump—into the Third Act
Have you ever been burned by your story? Often, authors get burned in the second act, and when it’s time to start the third act, the writing can feel like a relationship gone bad. By this point, it feels a bit … Continue reading
How Plotlines Add Dimension
When writing a novel, you need to use more than one plotline. In fact, most successful books need at least three. If they only have one or two, the story will feel flat, bloated, or repetitive, because the writer doesn’t … Continue reading
How to Describe a Location You’ve Never Visited
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