Writers Helping Writers^®

Writing Lessons

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…

Top 10 Tips On Writing A Fantasy Novel

June 18, 2024

Top 10 Tips On Writing A Fantasy Novel

June 18, 2024

What Makes Up Fantasy As A Genre? If you want to write a fantasy novel, it pays to understand what goes into this fascinating genre. Fantasy conventions can vary widely,…

The Secret to Page-Turning Scene Endings

June 13, 2024

The Secret to Page-Turning Scene Endings

June 13, 2024

It’s easy to surmise that propelling readers from one scene to the next relies upon a dramatic closing hook, the evocative or provocative impression at the very end of the…

How to Fix Big Story Problems

June 13, 2024

How to Fix Big Story Problems

June 13, 2024

Is there anything more frustrating than knowing there’s a problem with our story, but not being sure how to fix it? We wish for an easy button in these moments,…

Flashbacks vs. Dual Timeline: What’s the Difference?

June 11, 2024

Flashbacks vs. Dual Timeline: What’s the Difference?

June 11, 2024

For strong storytelling, we need to focus on what’s important and relevant to current story events. That means we shouldn’t info-dump a bunch of irrelevant backstory just because it’s interesting…

How to Avoid Clichéd Emotional Reactions

June 4, 2024

How to Avoid Clichéd Emotional Reactions

June 4, 2024

The single tear trickling down the cheek. A kiss that leaves one’s knees weak. The grin that stretches from ear to ear. Yawn Oh, excuse me. I almost fell asleep…

Structuring an Ensemble Cast with Plotlines

May 30, 2024

Structuring an Ensemble Cast with Plotlines

May 30, 2024

Writing an ensemble cast can feel daunting, especially when most writing advice is for stories that feature one, or maybe two, lead characters. How is an author supposed to structure…