Writers Helping Writers^®

Conflict

Build a Bridge: From Story Beginning to Main Conflict

January 28, 2020

Build a Bridge: From Story Beginning to Main Conflict

January 28, 2020

During one of my previous posts as a Resident Writing Coach, we talked about the importance of strong goals for helping our story move forward. But as we discussed in…

Capturing an Unhappy Relationship: A Writer’s Roadmap

January 7, 2020

Capturing an Unhappy Relationship: A Writer’s Roadmap

January 7, 2020

Relationships are a complicated beast, and if you write romance like me, then you’re wed (pun intended) to the HEA ending (happily ever after). But the reality is, we have…

Saving your Story from Predictability

November 7, 2019

Saving your Story from Predictability

November 7, 2019

I had the rare and luscious experience this weekend of cracking open a book and it being so awesome that I flew right through it. The Deceivers is about a girl from…

Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Satisfaction

September 17, 2019

Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Satisfaction

September 17, 2019

Welcome to the final post in this four-part series on ANTS. As I mentioned in my first post, ANTS is a goal-oriented framework for storytelling. It’s what you’re trying to…

Avoiding Change: What’s Stopping Our Characters?

September 10, 2019

Avoiding Change: What’s Stopping Our Characters?

September 10, 2019

Stories are about change. Our characters’ world is changing around them, or they’re changing internally—or both. Yet at the same time, we know change is hard. In our own lives,…

Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Tension

June 18, 2019

Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Tension

June 18, 2019

This is the third post in my four-part series on ANTS, my framework for understanding what a story needs to keep readers engaged. Previously, I’ve covered attachment and novelty. Now…

Saggy Middle? Use Conflict to Nip and Tuck It

May 16, 2019

Saggy Middle? Use Conflict to Nip and Tuck It

May 16, 2019

When I get a new story idea, I fly into the start of it with as much gusto as a kid in a candy store. I’m filled with the buzz…

Story Structure in a Flash

May 14, 2019

Story Structure in a Flash

May 14, 2019

Story structure can sometimes be difficult to wrap our minds around; there are so many different structures, all with different terminology and slightly different meanings. But today I’m going to…

Character Arc and Narrative Arc

November 20, 2018

Character Arc and Narrative Arc

November 20, 2018

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…

And…Action! Applying TV Lessons to Chapter Hooks

September 11, 2018

And…Action! Applying TV Lessons to Chapter Hooks

September 11, 2018

We’ve probably all heard the advice to end our scenes and chapters on a hook. At the end of every scene or chapter, readers might put down our book and…