by Angela Ackerman, @onestop4writers Some characters are so dynamic on the page it’s easy to imagine them as real people. Everything they say, do, and think is consistent with who they are, they have [...]
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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 [...]
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 [...]
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