Many writers, especially new writers, have trouble with scenes. They can picture the beginning of their story and the end, but what comes between gets a little hazy. The key […]
creative writing
Plot or Character Driven?
Are you a plot-driven or character-driven writer? By this I mean what sorts of stories do you typically write? It all depends on what sorts of questions you ask. Do […]
Action: The Fight Scene
Writing an action scene isn’t as easy as it sounds sometimes. Take the fight scene, for example. It’s not enough to write “He punched the man in the face.” Your […]
Writing Good Action Scenes
Good actions scenes can be tricky. You want to show enough of the action to give a vivid image, but not get bogged down in description. To start with, you […]
Short-Short: The Snowflake Method
THIS is a great article on writing a novel by building it up like a snowflake.
Story/Character Arc
The arc of a story is the overall plot of the whole thing – from exposition to denouement. The character arc is how the character changes within that story. Your […]
The Point of No Return
Conflict is a necessary part of any story. Without conflict and tension, you’ve got a boring description and no story. Along with conflict, though, you must have character reaction. If […]
Writing Basics: Style
Style is an elusive element of fiction. It’s something everyone has, but not many people can fully define. Your style is based on several things: diction, sentence structure, detail, literary […]
4 Tips for Great Conflict
Conflict or tension is a necessary element of storytelling. Without conflict, you don’t have a story. First, let’s hop over to Merriam-Webster and define our terms: Fight, battle, war a […]
Introduce Your Characters
You’ve seen it too many times: the character posed in front of a mirror, examining himself or herself so that the reader will know what they look like. For cryin’ […]