Writers Helping Writers^®

Setting

Less Is More—When It Comes to Describing Setting

October 15, 2022

Less Is More—When It Comes to Describing Setting

October 15, 2022

By C. S. Lakin If you’re writing fiction, it’s your job to create rich, descriptive settings in which your characters live and breathe. The challenge—as any seasoned fiction writer can…

Use Conflict to Target a Character’s Soft Spots

August 25, 2022

Use Conflict to Target a Character’s Soft Spots

August 25, 2022

Conflict is a key story ingredient, one we need a lot of, but this doesn’t mean quantity is better than quality. Fiction isn’t a video game; waves of bad guys…

Setting Description Mistakes that Weaken a Story

March 29, 2022

Setting Description Mistakes that Weaken a Story

March 29, 2022

When you think about the key elements of storytelling, characters and plot immediately come to mind, but what about the setting? Do you view it as 1) a vital story…

How Symbolism Adds Depth to a Story

December 7, 2021

How Symbolism Adds Depth to a Story

December 7, 2021

I think we all agree, stories need to be more than a character, goal, and a series of scenarios that keep the two apart. Reading isn’t a mechanical action after…

The Art (and Importance) of Specifically Ambiguous Writing

November 30, 2021

The Art (and Importance) of Specifically Ambiguous Writing

November 30, 2021

By Harrison Demchick One of the cornerstones of effective writing is specific detail. Specific detail is what grounds the action of a scene in a tangible reality. It’s how we…

A Mother Lode of Resources on Writing Conflict

October 21, 2021

A Mother Lode of Resources on Writing Conflict

October 21, 2021

With the recent release of the 2nd Volume of The Conflict Thesaurus, Angela and I have been here, there, and everywhere, sharing everything we’ve learned about what conflict can do…

Nods, Smiles, and Frowns: How Can We Avoid “Talking Heads”…and Cliches?

June 8, 2021

Nods, Smiles, and Frowns: How Can We Avoid “Talking Heads”…and Cliches?

June 8, 2021

Context is often an underappreciated element of our writing because when not done well, a context-filled passage can become a tell-not-show info dump. However, context is essential for most aspects…

Should We Think of Our Setting as a Character?

March 9, 2021

Should We Think of Our Setting as a Character?

March 9, 2021

We’ve probably all heard some variation of the advice to develop story settings that feel like characters. Hogwarts castle in the Harry Potter story world, the Overlook Hotel in The…

How to Describe a Location You’ve Never Visited

April 23, 2020

How to Describe a Location You’ve Never Visited

April 23, 2020

One of the big decisions writers make is whether to choose a real location for the backdrop of their overall story or create one of their own imaginings. Crafting a…

Mastering Show, Don’t Tell

December 5, 2019

Mastering Show, Don’t Tell

December 5, 2019

We hear it over and over: Show, don’t tell. You can’t get away from this advice, not in writing workshops, at conferences, or heck, even when visiting this blog. Writers…