Category Archives: Description
Three Ways Writers Tell, Not Show (And How You Can Fix Them)
One of my favorite writing coaches is here with us to dish some helpful advice on Show and Tell. Please welcome Janice Hardy and read on… Show, don’t tell, is drilled into every writer’s head, and most of us have … Continue reading
The Key Components of a Compelling Character (According to Psychology)
We’re fascinated by our fellow humans. In fact, we have a profound desire to try and understand the thoughts and feelings bouncing around other people, the characters on TV…the hero introduced on your first page. From an evolutionary perspective, this … 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
Choosing the Right Details
It’s my personal opinion that getting the words down on paper is the easy part, because at that point, the details don’t matter. Just throw a bunch of words down and take care of the specifics in the revision stage. … Continue reading
Dive Deep with Emotion
Hi all! One of my favorite people is here today: Christina Delay of Cruising Writers. She’s got a great post on how to write deep emotion, so please read on! Don’t you just love feedback from beta-readers or your critique … Continue reading
Quieter Protagonists: 3 Ways to Help Them Steal the Stage
While readers love to see larger-than-life characters with passion, take-charge attitudes, and heaps of boldness and daring, not every protagonist wears an extrovert skin. In fact, looking at real-life demographics for a second, I think there’s a lot more people … Continue reading
Three Ways The Setting Can Steer Your Story’s Plot
The setting is a powerful force. Not only does it evoke mood, create tension and conflict, allow you to share critical backstory in a non-dumpy way, and draw readers deeper into the story through powerful sensory detail…it can also steer … Continue reading
Want Memorable Characters? Focus on the Little Things
I love building characters. In fact, “building” is apt, because for me, they come a piece at a time. A brick or two might lock into place as I wrestle with that hateful night demon, Insomnia. Another may manifest with … Continue reading
Getting Jiggy with the Nitty Gritty, or, Improving Your Sentences
As writers we spend most of our time torn between needing to write and needing to market what we’ve written. Then, when we’re writing, our focus is often on improving our characters or the big picture story and characters’ arcs. … Continue reading
Making Characters Stuck in the Background Pop Out
Maybe you have had some of the experiences I’ve had when writing a manuscript, one of which is finding yourself with a character–could be a side character, a secondary character, or even a viewpoint character–who seems to be sort of … Continue reading