So many pieces have to come together to create skillful fiction that it’s almost disingenuous to suggest there are only one or two that make or break the story. But turns out: it’s true. And if my marquee-style post title wasn’t enough to give it away, let me spell it out: for a story to work, […]
February 12, 2018 by 52 Comments ThemeCohesion and Resonance! Cohesion and Resonance! Cohesion and Resonance!
January 8, 2018 by 165 Comments CharactersThe 5 Secrets of Good Storytelling (That Writers Forget All the Time)
I’m having a harder and harder time getting excited about stories these days. Not because I don’t love stories, but because I do love them—and because it’s ever-increasingly difficult to find truly great ones that employ all the secrets of good storytelling. By “great stories,” I mean stories that are put together with intelligence, understanding, passion, […]
May 26, 2017 by 53 Comments Theme4 Ways to Write Meaningful Comedy
Notoriously, comedy is one of the most difficult forms of writing. This isn’t because it’s so hard to write a gag or a line that’s funny. Life’s a pretty hilarious place, after all. No, it’s difficult because translating goofiness into meaning is vastly more difficult. These days, we tend to think of comedy as fluff—silly people […]
April 7, 2017 by 25 Comments ThemeHow to Write Stories Your Readers Will Remember
Think back about the books you read and the movies you watched in the last year (heck, think about just the ones you experienced in the last month). Which do you still remember vividly? Which are already foggy in your memory? Now: which type of story do you want to write? No-brainer, of course. You want to […]
August 12, 2016 by 90 Comments ThemeIs This the Single Best Way to Write Powerful Themes?
Part 9 of The Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling According to Marvel The longer I study stories, the more convinced I am that the one single thing that sets apart the great stories from the meh ones is theme. What this means, of course, is that figuring out how to write powerful themes is possibly the most […]
May 27, 2016 by 100 Comments ThemeHow to Create a Complex Moral Argument for Your Theme
On their surface, stories are nothing more than entertainment. They’re fun little ditties about cool people doing interesting things. But that’s not all stories are. Even the simplest of stories are saying something–they’re positing a moral argument about the world we live in. Cool, right? Even when we don’t intend to share a “message” with […]
September 28, 2015 by 58 Comments ThemeYour Fiction May Be Failing for One Simple Reason: You’re Not Being Honest
Writers talk a lot about “being honest,” “being vulnerable,” “pouring ourselves into our writing,” and “not being self-conscious” in our writing. But what does all that really mean? And how can flunking any of the above be the reason your fiction may be failing? What Is Honest Fiction? Let’s begin by asking the obvious question: What […]
September 4, 2015 by 38 Comments ThemeYour Plot and Theme: Are They a Team?
We all know writing a book is no easy task. The reason it’s ultimately so tricky is that a novel must bring together about a gazillion little working pieces, which the author then has to somehow fit together, so they all start ticking together as a seamless whole. That’s like taking apart a Swiss watch and trying […]
May 24, 2015 by 43 Comments ThemeStories That Matter: 5 Necessary Factors for Weighty Fiction
What is weighty fiction? I would argue that it is, almost unto itself, the definition for stories that matter. It’s the opposite of fluffy fiction (which isn’t to say there’s anything wrong with fluff–we all enjoy a fair share of that as well). Most authors want to write something that matters. Even if we’re never going to […]
December 14, 2014 by 50 Comments ThemeWhat’s the Difference Between Your Story’s Theme and Its Message?
One of the common myths about a story’s theme is that it must also be the story’s “moral” or “message.” Because theme always deals with fundamental truths that inevitably affect human morality, it’s easy to assume a story’s theme must always be specific and applicable to the readers. This isn’t necessarily a false assumption. As we’ve […]
