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Writing Lessons

Do You Need a Prologue? Take the Test!

March 28, 2024

Do You Need a Prologue? Take the Test!

March 28, 2024

By Julie Artz Affiliate links below After nearly ten years working with writers, I’ve decided the only inviolable rule in writing is that a romance must have either a happily…

Write Like a Magician: Creating the Illusion of an Unseen Character

March 26, 2024

Write Like a Magician: Creating the Illusion of an Unseen Character

March 26, 2024

Whenever we write a protagonist who lost someone important within their backstory, we have some heavy lifting ahead of us. That “unseen” character—a character who has died or who is…

Continuing a Series: Is This Info Too Repetitive?

March 12, 2024

Continuing a Series: Is This Info Too Repetitive?

March 12, 2024

We’ve probably seen advice warning that any time our story revisits information, we risk the idea feeling repetitive or redundant to readers if we’re not careful. Not surprisingly, the same…

Breathing Life into Characters

March 5, 2024

Breathing Life into Characters

March 5, 2024

Picture a protagonist who stumbles upon a mysterious artifact but shows no curiosity, or a group of friends who sit down separately at the summit of a hike under a…

The Pirate’s Guide to Writing Fantasy

February 20, 2024

The Pirate’s Guide to Writing Fantasy

February 20, 2024

Remember the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean when Captain Barbossa explains the pirate’s code? “The code is more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules.” Writing fantasy is a…

Four Must-Haves in the First Two Paragraphs of Every Chapter or Scene

February 13, 2024

Four Must-Haves in the First Two Paragraphs of Every Chapter or Scene

February 13, 2024

Begin Each Scene in Your Book with Grounding Have you ever been running late, and found yourself scrambling around your house, looking for your car keys? Where did you leave…

Mastering Turning Points in Relationship Plots

February 6, 2024

Mastering Turning Points in Relationship Plots

February 6, 2024

A turning point (also known as a “plot turn” or “plot point”) changes the direction of the story, through an action or a revelation. The protagonist was going one direction,…

How to Write Your First Book

February 1, 2024

How to Write Your First Book

February 1, 2024

I want to write a book. You remember when this big idea first hit, right? Maybe you were browsing for books, waiting for an author’s autograph, or sitting in awe…

Tension and the Power of Unanswered Questions

January 25, 2024

Tension and the Power of Unanswered Questions

January 25, 2024

Have you ever been a bit hazy on the difference between conflict and tension? If so, you aren’t alone. It’s common to confuse the two because they’re often used together…

Turn Your Readers into Detectives

January 16, 2024

Turn Your Readers into Detectives

January 16, 2024

Imagine inviting us into your protagonist’s house or whatever you deem to be their most sacred physical space. But while we’re so excited to meet your protagonist, they’re not actually…