Setting Yourself up for Success Before You Write a Single Word
Setting Yourself up for Success Before You Write a Single Word
As a lifelong student of storytelling, most of my posts are about how to best develop our story vision and put it on the page. But there’s an important step…
Read more…How to Write Emotion Well: Know Your Character
How to Write Emotion Well: Know Your Character
We’ve all read stories where our breath slows, the world falls away, and the page disappears. We’re somewhere else, a place that isn’t real, yet is. We’re with people who…
Read more…Everything You Need to Know About Show-Don’t-Tell
Everything You Need to Know About Show-Don’t-Tell
Show-Don’t-Tell is one of the most common pieces of advice…so common that many writers get sick of hearing about it: Yeah, yeah, show, don’t tell. I got it, I got…
Read more…Strengthening Creativity & Mindset
Strengthening Creativity & Mindset
Fact: writers have the best job ever. We actively live in our own imaginations, daydreaming about our characters, their antics, and the story world they live in. We can read and watch…
Read more…Everything That Makes a Compelling Story
Everything That Makes a Compelling Story
We know that when it comes to a writer giving out the coveted red rose, plot and character are first to receive one. But guess what? Alone, they won’t get…
Read more…11 Techniques for Transforming Clichéd Phrasings
11 Techniques for Transforming Clichéd Phrasings
One of the things that pumps me up the most when I’m reading a book is when the author phrases things in a way I’ve never seen before. It could…
Read more…Thoughtful Gifts for Writers
Thoughtful Gifts for Writers
Each year we put together a list of gift ideas for writers – some fun, some functional. This year, let’s face it, writers have struggled more than usual. So this…
Read more…Stuck in No-Man’s-Land: Your Novel’s Middle
Stuck in No-Man’s-Land: Your Novel’s Middle
If you have hit the point in your draft where you’re looking out at the vast landscape of your novel with no idea where to go next, congratulations…you’ve probably made…
Read more…Why You Should Side-Write Your Protagonist’s Origin Scene
Why You Should Side-Write Your Protagonist’s Origin Scene
Side writing: Any exploratory piece of writing that helps a writer get to know elements of their story but isn’t intended to make its way into a draft in its entirety.…
Read more…Does Your Story Idea Need a Makeover? Try Cratedigging
Does Your Story Idea Need a Makeover? Try Cratedigging
Not all story ideas are winners. But they could be, if they only had that spark of originality and relevance to make them stand out. The irony is that the…
Read more…How a Character’s Job Can Awaken Unmet Needs
How a Character’s Job Can Awaken Unmet Needs
In fiction and film, often who a protagonist is at the start of the story and who they are at the end are different. Why? Because stories—the best stories—are about…
Read more…Realistic Character Occupations: My Experience as a Physician Assistant
Realistic Character Occupations: My Experience as a Physician Assistant
To win readers over we need to write characters so authentic they feel like real people. How do we do this? By brainstorming a character’s backstory, personality, needs, desires, and…
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