Category Archives: Story Structure
Improve Your Novel Writing: 11 Tips For Newbies
Writing a novel is flipping difficult. It often takes years to complete your first novel (and even more years after that to write a good one). You heard that right — writers’ first books are usually a hot mess. That … Continue reading
Writing Feedback: Should We Seek It Out?
As most of you know, Becca and I have been writing and publishing for some time now. Many thing have changed in the industry, including how a book reaches the shelf. Thankfully the slush pile of doom is no longer … Continue reading
Using Backward Design to Plan Your Story
Weaving a powerful tale is not easy. Whether you pants or plot, ending up with a cohesive tale means understanding the key moments in a story. Today’s post by Angelica Hartgers offers up a great technique to use if plotting … Continue reading
Story Structure in a Flash
Story structure can sometimes be difficult to wrap our minds around; there are so many different structures, all with different terminology and slightly different meanings. But today I’m going to hopefully simplify things by covering how I view story structure—in … Continue reading
Introducing One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder
It’s always a good day when I have something incredible to share, and today I get to introduce a new tool that is going to help you EXPONENTIALLY: One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder. Becca, Lee, Abhishek, and I have … Continue reading
All-Important Considerations When Crafting a Scene
Pleased to welcome C.S. Lakin back to the blog for a tremendously helpful post on what to keep in the front of your mind when crafting a scene. Read on and bookmark this great list! Anyone who says writing a … Continue reading
On The Quest for Knowledge, Writers Must Show Courage
When we step onto the writing path, we know there will be a lot to learn. We see the mountain ahead and sure, it’s intimidating. But hey, we’re head over heels for story, in love with the author’s dream, and … Continue reading
And…Action! Applying TV Lessons to Chapter Hooks
We’ve probably all heard the advice to end our scenes and chapters on a hook. At the end of every scene or chapter, readers might put down our book and decide against picking it up again, so it’s important to … Continue reading
Powerful Scenes: Using One Stop for Writers’ Informal Scene Map
A while back I profiled some of the custom brainstorming tools at our sister-site, One Stop for Writers, which help take the mystery (and misery) out of story structure. One that I left off that post was our Informal Scene … Continue reading
The Six Stages of Your Hero’s Character Arc
It’s always special when a past Resident Writing Coach returns to the blog, so help me welcome C.S. Lakin who is opening up discussion on a powerful topic: Character Arc. I am a big fan of Michael Hauge’s 6-Stage Plot … Continue reading