By Joanna Campbell Slan @joannaslan A curious thing happened in the midst of banging out the words. I found a new way to learn more about my characters and to make them more [...]
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by Angela Ackerman, @onestop4writers Conflict is a powerful tool for storytellers, allowing us to place roadblocks, challenges, adversaries and more in a character’s way so the road to their goal is much [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig As hard as it is for me to believe it, tomorrow marks 14 years since I started blogging. It really doesn’t seem that long when I think [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig From time to time, everyone hits a speed bump in their manuscript. You might have been sailing through, easy as anything. Then, suddenly, you’ve come to a screeching [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I promise I’m not trying to drag any writers over to the dark side with me. :) I was quite anti-outline myself at the start of my writing [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I’ve mentioned before (in 2019) that it’s very helpful for outliners to hold onto their outlines instead of trashing them. I find them very helpful cheat-sheets when I’m [...]
By Alice Gaines, @AliceGaines Let me say first off that I’m a romance writer, so all of my examples will sound as if they came from romance novels. It’s my conviction that the [...]
by Joylene Butler, @cluculzwriter Today, we have a collection of helpful tips for writers from thriller writer Joylene Butler: 3 tips for successful self-publishing Write a compelling story, then rely on professional editing [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig This is a quick writing tip that I learned from all my time doing writing sprints with other sprinters on YouTube and Twitch. If you’re not familiar with [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig There’s nothing so awful as being pulled out of a great story by reading a typo. Unless, of course, you’re the author of the story and a reader [...]
By Jessica Thompson, @jessicathauthor I stumbled across the concept of subverting expectations while studying the movie Knives Out. This movie felt so revolutionary and perfect, and digging deeper, I found the internet a-buzz [...]
by Angela Ackerman, @AngelaAckerman A common writing misconception is that conflict automatically means reader engagement. After all, story experts are always ringing the conflict bell (me included), telling writers to include lots of [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I still think of myself as a very reluctant outliner. It’s definitely my least-favorite part of the creative process. Brainstorming is fun, drafting is fun. Even editing can [...]
by John Kerr, @themaltesetiger Let’s talk about regrets. We all have them, right? For me, it was not realizing how important structure was to my writing life. I used to start stories or [...]
by Savannah Cordova @Reedsy Whether for a contest, a creative writing class, or simply as an individual exercise, most writers will have tried writing short fiction at one time or another. It’s a [...]
by Nicole Souza What is strength? What is female strength specifically? It’s a complex question and must be answered by every writer individually. However, exchanging insights is helpful, so here are my top [...]
by Kristina Adams , @writingcookbook We all want characters with lots of depth, right? Characters our readers love so much they keep coming back for more? For me, there’s no bigger compliment than when a reader [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig 2020 was a tough year for most of us and sometimes the writing didn’t come as easily to me [...]
by Megan Taylor Morrison In the summer of 2018, I sat in my favorite café in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, writing the intro for my anthology Dance Adventures: True Stories About Dancing Abroad. [...]
by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld This story begins with last Christmas. That’s when I got hooked on Hallmark Christmas movies (and movies in that vein). Now, if these movies aren’t your cup of tea, [...]
by Sherry Ellis, @513sherrye Our job as writers is to create believable and entertaining stories for our readers. This is true whether you’re writing for children or adults. Details about the setting — [...]
by Yen Cabag When we read a novel, we want a story that grips us, and characters that feel so real they’re almost our friends—or enemies, as the case may be. And when [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I’ve worked on two of my series for so long that I can’t really even remember the genesis of the protagonists’ personalities. But I do remember creating their [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Transitions are one of those things that, when they work, are nearly invisible to readers. When they don’t work (they’re choppy, wordy, or completely absent), they can pull [...]
By K.B. Owen, @ kbowenwriter Have you ever thought about adding a famous historical figure to your story? After all, it’s been done successfully by the likes of Stephanie Barron, Anne Perry, Sue [...]
by Jemi Fraser, @jemifraser I am normally a fiction writer. I write romance, suspense, and flash fiction from a wide variety of genres. When our family was hit by dementia, I decided to [...]
By Mary Kole, Good Story Company, @kid_lit For the last ten years, I’ve been teaching all about characterization: what writers can do to flesh out their characters. As a former literary agent, I [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig If you’re starting a series, or even if you’re already several books in, I highly recommend a series bible. A series bible, or a document that helps you [...]
by Hank Quense, @hanque99 To a new fiction writer, there are a bewildering number of story elements that are essential to the story and incorporated into the work. To mention a few, there [...]
by Angelica Hartgers, @SelfPublishing7 Are you taking part in NaNoWriMo? As well as being a time to test your writing effort and output capabilities, it’s also a time to gain valuable insight. When [...]
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