Writers Helping Writers^®

Writing Lessons

Deepening Our Story: Theme It Like You Mean It

March 13, 2018

Deepening Our Story: Theme It Like You Mean It

March 13, 2018

Our story’s themes—our messages to readers of what to value or believe—can add depth and meaning to our writing, but to avoid being too on-the-nose, our themes are usually developed…

Raise the Stakes By Making It Personal

March 8, 2018

Raising the stakes by making the consequences personal to the protagonist means they are motivated to fix the problem or act to achieve a certain story goal.

Raise the Stakes By Making It Personal

March 8, 2018

Compelling novels have many different ingredients that make them fascinating to read, but one standard components is a healthy, continual dose of ACTION. The protagonist is always doing something: weighing…

Garlic Breath For Writers (aka, Bad First Pages)

March 6, 2018

Garlic Breath For Writers (aka, Bad First Pages)

March 6, 2018

“If you cannot write a compelling opening scene, from the opening sentence, I’m not going to finish your proposal.” – Agent, speaking at a recent writers conference The opening page…

Three Ways The Setting Can Steer Your Story’s Plot

March 1, 2018

Three Ways The Setting Can Steer Your Story’s Plot

March 1, 2018

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…

Want Memorable Characters? Focus on the Little Things

February 22, 2018

Want Memorable Characters? Focus on the Little Things

February 22, 2018

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…

Mapping Your Story’s Setting

February 20, 2018

Mapping Your Story’s Setting

February 20, 2018

As writers, we do our best to know our story’s setting as intimately as we know our characters. We can visualize the buildings, rooms, and geographic landscape. Maybe we even…

Characters As Mirrors

February 8, 2018

Characters As Mirrors

February 8, 2018

I’ve been thinking lately about something that Angela and I touch on in all of our books: The Mirror of Real Life. It’s this idea that something in our stories…

Writing By Design Part 2: Pattern and Repetition

February 6, 2018

Writing By Design Part 2: Pattern and Repetition

February 6, 2018

In my previous installment, I introduced you to writing by design and how you can use techniques from the visual arts to inform your writing. In particular, we looked at…

Overcoming an Emotional Wound (Character Arc Help)

February 1, 2018

Overcoming an Emotional Wound (Character Arc Help)

February 1, 2018

Of all the pieces of backstory we should understand as authors, none are more important than our protagonist’s Emotional Wound. A powerful statement, but here’s why. Think about your own…

What Does Your Protagonist Want BEFORE the Story Starts?

January 23, 2018

What Does Your Protagonist Want BEFORE the Story Starts?

January 23, 2018

Imagine getting up in the morning and not wanting anything (not even coffee). No, seriously, try. Imagine having no agenda. Sure, that may sound great for a bit – especially…