Category Archives: Emotion

11 Techniques for Transforming Clichéd Phrasings

Posted on March 4, 2021 by BECCA PUGLISI

One of the things that pumps me up the most when I’m reading a book is when the author phrases things in a way I’ve never seen before. It could be a familiar concept or image—red hair, an urban street, … Continue reading →

Posted in Character Traits, Characters, Cliches, Description, Emotion, Experiments, Writing Craft | 6 Comments

Story Resolutions: Mastering the Happy-Sad Ending

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Guest Poster

Very often, it’s the ending of a story that sticks with us—because it’s our last memory of it, our most recent emotional connection. So nailing the ending is important. This is why I was so excited when Gilbert Bassey reached … Continue reading →

Posted in Character Arc, Characters, Emotion, Endings, Writing Craft, Writing Lessons | 15 Comments

How to Evoke Emotions with Book Cover Design

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Guest Poster

We all know the importance of book covers in helping readers choose books. So what separates an engaging cover from one that potential buyers pass by? Would you be surprised if I said that emotion was part of the equation? … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Covers, Emotion, Marketing | 15 Comments

7 Ways Deep POV Creates Emotional Connections With Readers

Posted on January 19, 2021 by Writing Coach

Deep POV (point of view) is a popular (and lately, divisive) writing style to employ. Many blogs about deep pov will list out the same four or six foundational tools as though any newbie could pick this up and run … Continue reading →

Posted in Emotion, Point of View, Resident Writing Coach, Writing Craft | 14 Comments

Story Tropes: To Avoid or Not to Avoid?

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Writing Coach

Every genre and medium of storytelling uses tropes, common themes or story devices. For example, a popular trope in the romance genre is “enemies to lovers,” where the characters start as enemies before falling in love. Most articles we come across in … Continue reading →

Posted in Characters, Cliches, Emotion, Empathy, Experiments, Motivation, Plotting, Reader Interest, Resident Writing Coach, Show Don't Tell, Stereotypes, Story Ideas, Story Structure, Writing Craft, Writing Lessons | 9 Comments

Determining Your Character’s Emotional Range

Posted on November 17, 2020 by BECCA PUGLISI

I firmly believe that while readers sometimes do connect with our stories, they more often fall in love with our characters. If we want to really pull readers in, we’ve got to make each protagonist relatable and easy to connect … Continue reading →

Posted in Backstory, Characters, Emotion, Emotion Thesaurus Guide, Writing Craft | 2 Comments

Dropping Breadcrumbs: How to Show a Character’s Emotional Wound Through Behavior

Posted on November 5, 2020 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

Emotional wounds are transformative and have the power to re-shape a character in many negative ways, impacting their happiness, their self-worth, and causing mistrust and disillusionment to skew their worldview. This critical piece of backstory is key to understanding their … Continue reading →

Posted in Action Scenes, Backstory, Basic Human Needs, Character Arc, Character Flaws, Character Wound, Characters, Conflict, Emotion, Emotional Wound Thesaurus, Fatal Flaw, Fear, One Stop For Writers, Tools and Resources, Uncategorized, Writing Craft, Writing Resources | 3 Comments