Writers Helping Writers^®

Writing Lessons

Reader Empathy Begins with Compelling Character Emotion

July 30, 2024

Reader Empathy Begins with Compelling Character Emotion

July 30, 2024

Do you know how many books are on the market today? Neither do I. I can’t count that high. This is awesome for readers, but it creates a problem for…

What’s Your Character Hiding?

July 25, 2024

What’s Your Character Hiding?

July 25, 2024

Being able to write realistic, consistent, multi-dimensional characters is vital to gaining reader interest. Doing so first requires we know a lot about who our characters are—you know, the obvious…

Five Vehicles for Adding Subtext to Dialogue

July 23, 2024

Five Vehicles for Adding Subtext to Dialogue

July 23, 2024

Realistic, evocative dialogue is an important part of any successful story. We need our characters’ interactions to be authentic, consistent, and engaging to draw readers in to what’s happening. So…

Need to Get a Stubborn Character Moving? Use an Amplifier

July 16, 2024

Need to Get a Stubborn Character Moving? Use an Amplifier

July 16, 2024

If you’ve researched story structure at all, you know there are many models out there, and they’re all slightly different. The most popular forms tend to follow the three-act structure,…

Unlock Your Funny Bone: Writing Humor Is Easier Than You Think!

July 11, 2024

Unlock Your Funny Bone: Writing Humor Is Easier Than You Think!

July 11, 2024

I’ve rarely attempted to be funny in my writing. There are a couple of reasons for that. One, my stories tend to lean toward the serious side. The characters deal…

Could a Raptor Play the Protagonist Role?

July 9, 2024

Could a Raptor Play the Protagonist Role?

July 9, 2024

Raptors are some of the most successful predators on the planet. From owls, eagles, and vultures to hawks, falcons, and other birds of prey, raptors are skilled hunters with incredible…

Using Clothes to Characterize

July 4, 2024

Using Clothes to Characterize

July 4, 2024

“Fashion is a language that creates itself in clothes to interpret reality.” This quote by Karl Lagerfeld is pretty heady. I’m still chewing on it, but what I gather is…

Three Emotion Problems to Avoid in Your Story Opening

July 2, 2024

Three Emotion Problems to Avoid in Your Story Opening

July 2, 2024

As I’m sure you’ve heard roughly a gajillion times, your story’s first pages are very important. Editors and agents typically request just a portion of your story’s opening, and potential…

A Mother Lode of Resources on Emotion Amplifiers

June 27, 2024

A Mother Lode of Resources on Emotion Amplifiers

June 27, 2024

Angela and I have been busy bees the past few months, creating as much content as we could surrounding emotion amplifiers—a little-known storytelling element that’s great for elevating a character’s…

How Are Character Archetypes Different from Tropes?

June 25, 2024

How Are Character Archetypes Different from Tropes?

June 25, 2024

What exactly is a character archetype? How many are there? And how are they different from character tropes? These are the questions that were keeping me up at night as…