Set Scenes by Thinking Like a Director
Continuing her series of articles on using cinematic techniques in prose, C.S. Lakin offers more specific advice on mastering this approach. "The more you...
Do You Know Your Character’s Backstory?
Your characters may first appear to your reader on page 1 of your story, but in their world, they've lived full lives before we...
He Said, She Said: Finding a Better Way to ID Characters with Dialogue
Writers love to debate the use of dialogue tags. Some eschew them altogether. Some argue that "said" is the only acceptable attribution, while others...
The Ethics of Portraying Historical Persons
The beauty of writing fiction is that we create our own worlds and people them with characters whose personalities and fates we (mostly) control....
You Don’t Need Money for a DIY Writing Diploma
We can't all afford to attend the best schools for creative writing or screenwriting, and if we can, a lot of us late bloomers...
Reinforce Theme with Setting
Regardless of where you set your story, your writer's view of place should be informed by your theme goals and your character's point of...
Never Lose Sight of Your Character’s Goals
In a post on The Script Lab blog, David Wayne Young says that forgetting your character's main goal is the most dangerous pitfall in...
Isaac Bashevis Singer: Write What Only You Can Write
In a new post, the Writers Write blog shares Isaac Bashevis Singer’s three characteristics a work of fiction must possess:
It must have a...
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
In an essay for Lit Hub, writer Rebecca Solnit extolls the virtues of novels and non-fiction works that take time arriving at their destinations.
"Some...
Verbal Conflict is Conflict
Most of us avoid conflict in our real lives, so sometimes it can be hard to create in our fiction. That's one reason writers...
