Real-World Final Destination
Like characters in a real-world version of Final Destination, these people miraculously avoided a painful death, but not for long. A post on Mysterious...
Yes, You Can Write About Your Family
Some folks get nervous writing about events that happened to or within their families, even when they fictionalize. They worry that family members will...
Kill Your Darling Beta Readers
Our theory of writing advice is that the only good advice is the advice that works for you. Everyone has their own idea of...
Do You Wanna Touch?
Creating an immersive reader experience means engaging all the senses in your characters and descriptions. Of course, it's natural to focus on what your...
Emphasize the Scene in Your Fight Scene
In an article for Writer's Digest, martial artist and writer Carla Hoch says the setting for a fight scene is even more important than...
“I Didn’t Want to Steal It, but I Did.”
As part of her interview with the Write the Book podcast, Caitlin Hamilton Summie (Geographies of the Heart) offers this prompt: “I didn’t want to...
The Lost Secrets of the Antikythera
Full disclosure: When this editor read the Golden Compass, he had no idea that an antikythera was an actual real-world object. Sue me.
A post...
The Many Ways Fictional Aliens Explore Human Topics
In a post on Lit Hub, Mike Chen explores the various ways writers use aliens to talk about all-too-human concepts. "In most cases, the aliens...
How to Reset Your Readers’ Expectations
In their last in a series of podcasts on setting expectations in your novel, the Writing Excuses hosts discuss what happens when you're halfway...
Enough About Me. What Do You Think About Me? Using Narcissists in Your Writing
In a post on the Writer Write blog, Anthony Ehlers examines the various types of narcissists and how you can use them as antagonists...
