Writers Helping Writers^®

Writing Lessons

Does Every Lead Character Need An Arc?

March 5, 2019

Does Every Lead Character Need An Arc?

March 5, 2019

At a Bouchercon some years ago, Lee Child was part of a panel on characters in thrillers. An audience member asked him a question about character change. “Every character has…

Writing Backstory Through Dialogue

February 28, 2019

Writing Backstory Through Dialogue

February 28, 2019

Backstory is one of the trickier elements of writing. We have to take our readers back in time to let them know some of the past, but how do we…

New Release: The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression (2nd Edition)!

February 19, 2019

New Release: The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression (2nd Edition)!

February 19, 2019

Today’s the day: The Emotion Thesaurus (Second Edition) enters the world! Over the years, many of you have written to us about the impact our book has had on your…

Introducing One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder

February 14, 2019

Introducing One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder

February 14, 2019

If you’re like me, you get pretty serious about creating characters who leap off the page. That’s why you’re going to love this new character design tool. At One Stop…

Look Forward, Not Backward, to Pull the Reader In

February 12, 2019

Look Forward, Not Backward, to Pull the Reader In

February 12, 2019

A lot of writers have the tendency to look “backward” when writing. They might use a lot of flashbacks, they might have a character think “back” on things, or they…

The Key Components of a Compelling Character (According to Psychology)

January 23, 2019

The Key Components of a Compelling Character (According to Psychology)

January 23, 2019

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…

How to Get Emotion Onto the Page

January 15, 2019

How to Get Emotion Onto the Page

January 15, 2019

It is a truth universally acknowledged: you have to hook the reader right out of the starting gate. From the very first sentence your story must incite that delicious sense…

All-Important Considerations When Crafting a Scene

January 10, 2019

All-Important Considerations When Crafting a Scene

January 10, 2019

By C.S. Lakin Anyone who says writing a scene is easy probably hasn’t written one. I’ve written upwards of three thousand scenes (a fairly rough estimate), and every time I…

Want Readers to Fall in Love With Your Hero? Create The Perfect Hero Lens

January 8, 2019

Want Readers to Fall in Love With Your Hero? Create The Perfect Hero Lens

January 8, 2019

We writers worry about all sorts of things: traits, arcs, themes, motives etc. But even when we’ve got all of those things sorted, bridging the gap between the black ink…

Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Attachment

December 18, 2018

Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Attachment

December 18, 2018

Imagine you’re playing your first game of Scrabble with a friend. You haven’t been taught the rules of the game, but you know the general idea is to make words…