Hold Back Information to Create a Sense of Mystery
Every story has a bit of mystery to it. Readers want to know more about a character, how they'll solve a problem, what drives...
There’s More to Strong Women than Magic Bracelets
The Catch-22 with creating "strong female characters" is that readers find them either unrelatable or unrealistic. You might love your heroine for being assertive,...
Drive Your Plot by Putting Your Characters on the Road
In a post on Writer Unboxed, Tom Bentley says that the simplest way to create narrative drive is to show your characters in physical...
Don’t Let Your Story Run Out of Gas at the End
We read lots of advice for writers about cutting the flab from their stories, but we don't often hear about those times when you...
Use Symbolism to Deepen Your Story
We (mostly) all hated it as kids, but as writers, we better understand how symbolism helps us add layers to our story and convey...
Use Surprise to Create Micro-Tension
C.S. Lakin offers another articles about micro-tension, the small details that create an underlying sense that something is wrong, letting your reader know that...
Hero’s Journey: The Refusal of the Call
To craft a satisfying story, your hero/protagonist needs a goal, a desire strong enough to push them along their journey to the endgame. However,...
Research: Knowing When Enough is Enough
In a post on the Stage 32 blog, S.K. Valenzuela offers advice for avoiding the two most common pitfalls of research: info-dumping and procrastination....
Using Texture to Create Believable Worlds
In their latest podcast, the Writing Excuses hosts continue their conversation on creating believable worlds. In this episode, they discuss how the use of...
He Said, She Snapped: Variations on Dialogue Tags
In a post on Writer Unboxed, Barbara Linn Probst suggests alternatives to the use of "said" as a dialogue tag. While "X said" is...
