Audiences Buy Concepts, but Embrace Characters
In a post on Killzone, Garry Rodgers describes one of his former partners from his time as a police detective and a list of...
What do Genre and Media Promise to the Reader?
In this week's podcast, the Writing Excuses hosts continue talking about reader expectations, saying that your genre and medium make promises you should keep....
Advice for Starting in the Middle of the Action
"The chronological beginning of a story is not always the best place to start," writes Karen Debonis in a post on Writers in the...
You’ve Got a Friend in Inanimate Objects
Movies like Pinocchio, Ted, Night at the Museum, and the Toy Story series show us the enduring attraction of using inanimate objects as living...
What Does it Take to Begin Your Novel?
We have trouble writing one beginning to our stories and novels. In a post on Writer Unboxed, Greer Macallister says every story actually has...
Writing a la Mode
While many of us spend our writing time in a t-shirt and yesterday's jeans, sometimes our characters might need a bit more elan. In...
Writing Lessons from L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón
Learning from other writers - reading other writers - is the best way for you to study and learn your craft. You don't give...
Understanding the Difference Between Style, Tone, and Voice
We believe it's worthwhile for a writer to develop their own voice. There are a number of sometimes-conflicting definitions of what that entails. Generally,...
What Makes a Story?
In an interview with the DIY MFA podcast, Charlie Jane Anders discusses:
What makes something an “idea” versus a “story” and how to tell...
Eavesdropping for Fun and Profit
Eavesdropping is (allegedly) not very nice, but for writers, this vice is a virtue. In an article for Lit Hub, Nikita Lalwani says she...
