Use Misdirection to Keep Your Reader Guessing
Regardless of your genre, creating misdirection is one of the surest ways to surprise your readers. In a post on Killzone, Sue Coletta offers...
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,...
Prompt: Find Poetry in Opposites
During an interview with the Write the Book podcast, A.E. Hines suggests writing a poem that explores duality, by comparing and contrasting two topics...
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...
The Special Challenge of Magical Violence
Fight choreography is a tough skill to master. In addition to pacing and description, writers need a basic understanding of the effects of violence...
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...
Self-Editing: Does it Work?
Editing your own manuscript is tough. It's hard to spot weaknesses and omissions. If we recognized them, we wouldn't have put them there in...
In Romance, Too Much is Too Much
This editor admits to not being a fan of most romantic subplots. They often feel like distractions from the main plot or afterthoughts added...
