Use Awe to Spark Creativity
All writers have a sense of curiosity about people and our world. We write stories to figure things out, from big philosophical questions to...
How to Handle a Revise & Resubmit
You might be fortunate enough to get an agent's attention for your manuscript. However, that often isn't the end of the line. You might...
How Much is Too Much and When?
For fiction writers, successful communication is all about balance. We need to hone our instincts so that we know the right amount to put...
How to Train Your Brain for Writing When You’re Not Writing
While many creative people have set hours for their project time, the creative process itself is no respecter of schedules. At worst, our minds...
Use the Audience’s Imagination to Fill in Blanks Between Scenes
We don't know how they do it, but writing advice blogs seem to hit similar points at the same time. Not counting blog tours...
Do You Trust Your Reader?
You might be forgiven if you find the act of writing requires you to walk a number of tightropes. Characters need to be consistent...
How to Create an Antihero Who Isn’t a Sociopath
We love our antiheroes but they are challenging to write well. There's a fine line between antihero and villain that is crossed on a...
Bringing Life to Supporting Characters
During an interview with DIY MFA, writer Sacha Black discusses how to handle supporting characters, including:
The main types of supporting characters and what...
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...
