Listen to What Your Story Tells You
Sometimes a story comes to us fully-formed. We have a general idea about our plot and characters and overarching theme before we start writing....
To Create Real Characters, Treat Them Like Real People
Characters, of course, are the heart of your story. Even if you tried to write a story without characters, you'd have a narrator, someone...
Think Small When Writing Short
In a post on the Killzone blog, Elaine Viets offers two suggestions for getting unstuck in your short story: think small and think twisted.
When...
How to Use Big Historical Events as Backdrop in Your Fiction
Historical novels present a special challenge to writers, from the amount of research required to knowing which details are needed to create an immersive...
Don’t Let Anyone Tell You What You Can Write
If you haven't figured it out, this editor is a proponent of freedom of expression. We believe that writers can write what they want...
Let Dialogue Do Your Heavy Character Lifting
"All talk responds to a need, engages a purpose and performs an action. No matter how seemingly vague or airy a speech may be,...
A Better Way to Describe Which Way the Wind Blows
In a post on Tosaylib, Hiuyan Lam suggests ways to describe wind, including its force, how it feels, and how it behaves.
Steeling Yourself for a Professional Opinion
Writers are encouraged to obtain feedback whenever possible, from friends, peers, critique groups, and readers. Honest feedback helps us identify our weak spots, find...
Aligning Magic and Technology
In their latest podcast, the Writing Excuses hosts say that magic and technology are more closely related than we acknowledge. In this episode, they examine...
Slasher Movies Have More to Say Than You Think
In an essay for Lit Hub, Samantha Allen makes the case for the literary merits of slasher movies. Allen notes that the 1974 film...
