January 27, 2025 by 66 Comments Writing Resources

Master List of Answers to Most Asked-For Writing Topics on This Site

You who read this site and participate in its discussions on all the writing topics are an endless source of inspiration to me. This is true in many ways, but most literally in that when you ask deeply insightful questions, you often give me great ideas for posts about writing topics!

A few months ago, I asked you to tell me what kind of posts you’d like me to write in the future. Thank you for all the great ideas! I have filled out the year’s post roster thanks to your suggestions. I also had to smile at Lori’s comment that:

I really can’t think of anything you haven’t already covered.

There’s much I haven’t yet been able to cover. However, in the last 17 years and nearly 1,700 posts (and podcasts and videos—not to mention books and courses), there is also a great deal of comprehensive info already available on writing topics of all sorts.

Several years ago, I created the page you’re now visiting as a resource in response to the many questions I received on topics I’d already covered. This master list of writing topics responds to some of those queries in an easy-to-scan list with links to articles I’ve already published.

This year, I’m updating the resource in response to some of the questions you posed back in October. This page contains still all the links from the previous posting. However, if you asked a new question or suggested a new post idea back in October, then I have responded in one of the following ways:

  • By adding your suggestion to the list for discussion in a future post this year.
  • By adding it below with links to pertinent posts, marked in red so you can easily recognize what’s new.
  • By retaining similiar questions asked by someone else previously, with pertinent resources below.

Other Ways to Find the Writing Topics You’re Looking For

For those who are unaware, the site is very searchable. If you’re looking for a particular topic, just use the search bar. If you’re on a computer, this will show up at the top of the right-hand toolbar (just above my headshot).

If you’re on a mobile device, you’ll need to scroll down, almost all the way to the bottom (again, it will be just above my headshot).

You can also access articles by category (such as Characters, Dialogue, POV, etc.), using the drop-down menu entitled Categories, which you can find toward the bottom of the right-hand column (on a computer) or at the bottom of your screen (on a mobile device).

You can also check out “The Ultimate Glossary of Writing Terms,” an extensive list that includes both definitions and links to relative articles.

>>See this post for even more of the site’s resources that you may not know about.

Now, without further ado, here are some of your questions and the posts that may help you answer them. Again, the most recent additions to this resource, in response to your latest questions, are noted in red both in the TOC and in the sections below.

Table of Contents

Returning to Writing After a Long Break

debraji: I don’t know if you’ve written about this before—but how do you start again after a long stretch away from writing? When your “writing muscles” are out of shape and your confidence is at a low, and you’re casting about for a story worth telling?

Marketing

Jonathan R Allen: How you promote your blog, books, podcasts, newsletters, etc. Tells us what works for you!

Genres

Louis Schlesinger: Would you please consider a series on the art of writing stories of different genres—action, mystery, thriller, horror, romance, war, westerns, etc?

Organizing Edits

Tiffany Taylor: How to map out a bonafide plan to address and/or incorporate the suggestions, now that I’ve received feedback from multiple editors. I’m overwhelmed with how to proceed and need some kind of action plan!

Writer’s Block

YCgirly: What can you do to get rid of writer’s block?

Reclaiming Joy in Writing

John Mennella: Would you consider writing a blog post about writing fiction primarily for the experience of personal pleasure and the joy of creating art? I honestly believe that these are sufficient reasons for someone to write fiction. I often feel that too many writing “experts” are overly focused on the commercial aspect of fiction writing and that they’ve lost track of its more important aspects, namely that it is an art form and has great therapeutic potential.

Plot Points of Archetypal Character Arcs

NagiaV: I’m eager to deepen my understanding of Story Plot Points, particularly in relation to the archetypal arcs, with a focus on the 6 Positive Archetypal Character Arcs. I would love to learn more about how the Midpoint typically appears in the Maiden, the Hero, the Queen Arc, etc.

Each post in the following series features a beat-by-beat look at the structure of each archetypal arc:

Killing Your Darlings When Editing

Steve: How to kill your darlings effectively. After writing a scene draft, I’ll often have a nagging feeling that part of it is just not good, too awkward, too melodramatic, too out of character for my character. I know I need to change it, edit it, something. But for some reason I’ll often let it ride. Maybe I’m concerned about losing something else in the scene that I liked. Maybe I’m second guessing unnecessarily. Maybe I’m looking for something more objective to tell my subjective self what to do.

Writing a Series

Lilo: I would really love to read about how to outline and structure a series.

Description

Julien: Currently, I’m faced with the problem of writing descriptions. How to make them compelling. The most difficult for me is describing colours and feelings. I would be grateful should you share some of your experiences in that domain.

How to Write Emotional Scenes

Carine Grace: I’d love to learn more about how to make your story pluck reader’s emotions without becoming over descriptive or sappy.

Multiple Plotlines

DK: Juggling multiple protagonists, multiple themes, and multiple through-lines.

Rewriting to Adjust Word Count

Anne: I’d like to learn how to rewrite/edit a large manuscript (115,000 words) into a tight 75,000 words.

sanityisuseless: How do you lengthen your novel? (I can’t seem to break even 20K on my novel.)

Historical Research

bertram1414: I’d like to learn about historical research, tbh, but I don’t know where to look.

Self-Publishing and Self-Editing

Jason P: I’d love to see updated self-publishing info and more on self-editing.

Death Scenes

confidential writer: One thing that would be really helpful is if you wrote a post about how to write solid death scenes or scenes of a similar dramatic level without them being mellodramatic.

Action Scenes

confidential writer: Also, maybe something about how to write good action scenes (like chases, duels, etc).

Heroine’s Journey

Elisabeth: First off, I love your blog! It has taught me so much about writing. I would love to read about the Hero’s journey, and the variations between male and female journeys.

Go on the journey with your characters! Check out the Archetypal Character Guided Meditations.

Outlining Your Novel

Joe Copeland: Right now, my biggest interest is organizing my novel project prior to writing. I have many things I like to refer back to while writing such as character lists, character biographies, major scenes, basic plot, basic backstory, etc. I’m fashioning a list of my favorite things, but I was wondering what things you like to have before starting.

Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success by K.M. Weiland

Outlining Your Novel (Amazon affiliate link)

Rick: I would like to know how (i.e. what process and tools you use ) you organize your thoughts/ideas when starting to write a book. Do you start from a big picture overview and then identify the individual scenes, or do you start from the beginning of the story and go forward in time or ? I assume you create an outline, but how do you incorporate character arcs, key plot points, etc. into the outline?

Steve: I would love to hear more about the beginnings of the process. Most specifically going from a very rough idea to a plot line and story structure. Then how you go from a simple plot line to one that has sub plots and interesting twists.

Pacing

Xavier Basora: Pacing. What is it and how you incorpoate it in stories.

Tools

Johne Cook: I’m curious about your tools. There was a time you were using yWriter, what writing tools are you using in 2022?

Second Act

Milin Joshi: Writing the 2nd act.

Conflict

Ardra: Please write about CONFLICT.

There seem to be two types of conflict:

    • pleasurable to read
    • hostile engagements.

For instance nice conflict includes problem solving, convincing someone, battles, mysteries, any occasion that enables the MC to display skill in an interesting way etc

Hostile engagements are unpleasant to read and leave one tired. They’re mostly centered on people being horrible to each other, aggressiveness for its own sake, internal monologue that displays envy and incompetence etc.

Insecure writers (and I realized I do this as well) tend to jump into the hardest situation possible, which is typically about people being unreasonable and aggressive. This makes for very unpleasant reading and stupid characters.

How do I internalize writing nice conflict and keep on track with it?

Theme

Writing Your Story’s Theme (Amazon affiliate link)

Amy: Can you write about how best to shape or mine ideas or theme into compelling stories

Revision

Galynn D Zitnik: I am in the middle of revising my novel and it is so easy to get lost and confused. Do you have an efficient system for revising?

Writing Funny Characters

Shelley Lea Frost: Hi Katie, thanks so much for all your wonderful advice. Your insight and the effort you put into helping others are much appreciated. Do you have any words of wisdom about writing witty characters? I love people with a sense of humour but struggle to make the jokes and repartee sound different. I only have a single small sad supply of wit and it won’t stretch enough to create characters with different voices. All my funny sounds the same. Should I continue to stalk my friends? They’re starting to look cross when I stick my phone in their faces every time someone laughs. Please give me some options. For the sake of my social life and my potential writing career.

Daydreaming

Peter Samet: I’ve realized that I don’t daydream nearly as much as I used to. I partially blame my smartphone, which prevents me from ever getting bored, but also discourages one-on-one time with my brain. How important is daydreaming for writing, and how does one make time for it when one barely has time to write either?

Novel Doubts

Riley G.: What do you do with a scene in a novel that you liked when you first wrote it, but don’t like so much when you reread it? And how do you know what to replace the scene with, or how do you know that a new idea to replace said scene is the right thing to replace it with? How do you deal with second thoughts when working on a manuscript?

Deciding Which Idea to Write

Miriam Harmon: Though, I used to have shiny object syndrome, now that I’ve gotten over it, I have more stories than I know how to write. Now I’m stuck wondering which of these stories I should focus on. Should I start with something easier or go for my best book idea, and which is my best book idea? Every time I try to narrow them down, I end up with ten or more stories that really deserve to be written, and I’m not sure how to choose which one to do right now. Any advice?

nick: I have so many ideas, how do I choose which idea to work on next? I’m just finishing up my first book, and it felt so pressing and all consuming for years, now I’m afraid I won’t feel that pressing importance again.

Betsy W.: Thank you for all that you create! How do you know when an idea is worth turning into a novel? Do you have a feeling about the general idea that tells you it’s enough for a novel? Or is there a list of questions you ask yourself about the idea to test it out? Thank you for the stories you tell and for all the ways you help writers.

Subplots

Lorraine: How do you go about layering subplots into the main story? Do you write the main story first and then add in the subplots while you edit or do you include it in the story plan? I’m currently adding in a romantic subplot into my urban fantasy book. While there were elements during the editing process, it wasn’t until I was almost at the polishing stage I realized the romantic subplot didn’t have enough meat. Hence the question.

Titles

Andrew Williams: I struggle enormously with decent titles. I can spend a year writing and editing something under a working title and still have no idea what to call it at the end. Do you have any advice on coming up with memorable, searchable titles for our writing projects?

Subtext

Murli: How to make subtext impactful?

***

Many of the posts listed here are comprehensive. A few are not, and I may return to these topics in more depth in the future. For now, thanks for the inspiration, and I hope you find some of the answers you were hoping for. If not, stay tuned!

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! Are there any more writing topics that you’d like me to cover in the future? Tell me in the comments!

Sign Up Today

hwba sidebar pic

Sign up to receive K.M. Weiland’s e-letter and receive her free e-book Crafting Unforgettable Characters: A Hands-On Introduction to Bringing Your Characters to Life.

Related Posts

About K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland

K.M. Weiland is the award-winning and internationally-published author of the acclaimed writing guides Outlining Your Novel, Structuring Your Novel, and Creating Character Arcs. A native of western Nebraska, she writes historical and fantasy novels and mentors authors on her award-winning website Helping Writers Become Authors.

Comments

  1. Rob Hill says
    November 14, 2022 at 4:42 am

    OMG, this post is going to be so helpful! The very first link on the list about trimming down the word count was exactly the question I was going to ask you privately next month. Thanks for reading my mind Katie.
    PS – The html code for &#8217 didn’t convert to an apostrophe in that link. Happens to me all the time when I’m editing websites. Should be a quick fix. Cheers!

    Reply
  2. theandyclark says
    November 14, 2022 at 6:41 am

    Lots of helpful information here. Over the years, I have learned that when I recognize I actually have a question, I can generally search your site and find the answer. One thing which I think might be useful is to refresh the lists of things like editor recommendations, which can vary over the years.
    I know you have many columns where you’ve referenced books that can help us understand our characters, or even ourselves (bleh! Who would want to do that!). Have you considered pulling together column that’s a list of favorite psychology books?

    Reply
    • K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland says
      November 14, 2022 at 2:43 pm

      I agree! I refreshed the editor list last year, and am planning to update a couple more in the new year.

      Reply
  3. Eric Troyer says
    November 14, 2022 at 9:15 am

    That’s pretty wild! Makes sense, though. You’ve been doing this for a long time. Thank you!

    I can attest to the searchability of your site. I’ve used it many times. Most recently I was reading about scenes in Robert McKee’s “Story” and wanted to re-read what you had to say on the subject. I quickly found the series on scenes and read it again. And learned a bit more!

    Reply
  4. Louis Schlesinger says
    November 14, 2022 at 9:30 am

    Thanksgiving is around the corner, and I’m grateful for so much. Please know that your generosity, steadfastness, and the insights you share with our community of writers is near the top of my list. This compilation is above and beyond. Thank you, Katie. 🙂

    Reply
  5. Bob says
    November 14, 2022 at 10:09 am

    K, I’ve been reading and saving your valuable posts for several years now. Thanks for organizing the many links to other posts in this post. I will consider it my go to reference for writing help.

    Reply
  6. Cathy Robinson says
    November 14, 2022 at 10:16 am

    This post is AWESOME! As are you!! Please keep sharing fabulous wisdom through your books and posts! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

    Reply
  7. Anglea says
    November 14, 2022 at 10:16 am

    This post is so helpful! I know your Site is searchable, but wow, it’s great to have a kind of “master post list” like this…I wouldn’t mind a few more, if you have other questions you get repeatedly and have already covered 🙂

    Reply
    • K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland says
      November 14, 2022 at 2:45 pm

      I’m thinking of doing a weekly Q&A feature, on social media, next year. We’ll see how it turns out. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Angelique says
    November 14, 2022 at 10:28 am

    What an amazing list!! Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together for us! 😀

    Also, that cover for Writing Archetypal Character Arcs is phenomenal and I’m beyond excited that it’s coming out so soon! Will there be new or additional material in it that wasn’t covered in the post/podcast series or will it mainly be just the compilation of everything in one place? I am just curious, I’m buying either way lol.

    Reply
    • K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland says
      November 14, 2022 at 2:46 pm

      Yay! I’m excited too. 😀 The book version of Writing Archetypal Character Arcs is getting very close to release. I just have to finalize the cover and do a final proof of the hardcopy. So it should be out, probably by early January. It’s an updated version of the blog posts, but the information is pretty much the same.

      Reply
  9. Lew Kaye-Skinner says
    November 14, 2022 at 10:43 am

    Katie, Thanks for doing this. I’ve noticed that your mind and mine tend toward sorting. (Stephen Pinker writes about ‘lumpers’ and ‘splitters.’ ‘Sorters’ is my addition.) Given Rumpelstiltskin’s heap of straw, we would try to find a useful way to organize it.
    Have you considered making an index with links to the various sections? It’s great that the entire blog is searchable, but sometimes, when I don’t really know what I’m looking for, a list/index can point me to what I need.
    Speaking of making things, do you ever have volunteers help with behind-the-scenes type of tasks?

    Reply
  10. Avon Dixon says
    November 14, 2022 at 10:48 am

    A great list to have for reference but one question I still have. How and when to weave backstory into the main plot? Should I start my opening scene (chapter 1) with a major plot incident and provide backstory for the main characters later? Or, tell the story in a forward motion and introduce a little backstory when characters are introduced? HELP!

    Reply
  11. John Browning says
    November 14, 2022 at 10:48 am

    A great sign of thorough service on a topic is when the source has done so much that there has to be a directory of what has been done. Thank you!

    Reply
  12. Joan Kessler says
    November 14, 2022 at 11:41 am

    What a great go-to list! This saves much time. Many thanks!

    Reply
  13. Nikki says
    November 14, 2022 at 11:46 am

    I LOVE this post!! Thank you SO much for compiling these topics. I have a notebook I have been saving solely for the purpose of walking through your posts and recording nuggets I want to revisit. 🙂

    Reply
  14. Anonymous says
    November 14, 2022 at 12:16 pm

    What a beautiful cover indeed for Writing Archetypal Character Arcs. I took great interest in the series of blog posts and I look forward to buying the book. 🙂

    Reply
    • K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland says
      November 14, 2022 at 2:49 pm

      Thank you! This is the “rough” cover. Still some tweaking to do, on background color and such. But I’m super happy with it.

      Reply
  15. Beth Farmer says
    November 14, 2022 at 12:19 pm

    What a great thing for you to do. I save your emails and your articles, too, but this will be a great reference.

    Reply
  16. SteveG says
    November 14, 2022 at 12:44 pm

    Katie, you are by far (in my opinion and, I’m convinced, many others) one of the most prolific, comprehensive, and self-less authors out there. Thank you so much for your many years of service both as a conjuror of wonderful stories and a teacher. Well done!

    Reply
  17. Sara K. says
    November 14, 2022 at 12:48 pm

    Wow, some of those links look great (& I haven’t seen them before).

    As I’ve told you before, my favorite aspect of your website is the deep and comprehensive archive (and that’s part of why I don’t ask so many questions in the comments, instead I use the search box a lot).

    Reply
    • K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland says
      November 14, 2022 at 2:51 pm

      Yeah, there’s some good stuff way back there in the archives. Some not-so-good stuff too… 😉 But I’m always in the process of going back and editing and updating.

      Reply
  18. Rick D says
    November 14, 2022 at 12:50 pm

    WOW! Just WOW!

    Reply
  19. Sharon says
    November 14, 2022 at 1:09 pm

    Thank you so much for your expertise and response to our writing needs.

    Reply
  20. CHERYL POTTS says
    November 14, 2022 at 2:16 pm

    This post is so full of great information. Thanks for putting it together. One for sure I will save for reference.

    Reply
  21. Athaia says
    November 14, 2022 at 3:01 pm

    What a wonderful list! I can think of one more question, though: plot twists! How do you create one that is truly surprising the readers (in a good way)? I always look at mine and think they’re lame – if I could think of it, everyone else must’ve, too. I’m terrible at thinking outside the box.

    Reply
  22. Kari Gorman says
    November 14, 2022 at 7:00 pm

    Hi thanks for this post!
    I’m a romance writer and I’m wondering if you have any suggestions for when I’m plotting – how can I easily make sure my romance plot fits with my external story plot?

    Reply
    • K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland says
      November 15, 2022 at 3:16 pm

      I am thinking of doing some more genre-specific posts next year, romance being the most requested.

      Reply
  23. Florian Sonnleitner says
    November 15, 2022 at 9:03 am

    Wow! This is so useful. As I am in my first revisioning cycle, this will help a lot. Thx for this!

    Reply
  24. Steve S. says
    November 15, 2022 at 11:30 am

    Katie,

    In the past when you posted individual articles about archetypal characters you fascinated me with your concept. I’m looking forward to learning more in your book Writing Archetypal Character Arcs.

    Thank you for your generosity in taking the time to help those of us who want to become authors reach their goal. Few people demonstrate care about others as much as you do.

    Reply
    • K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland says
      November 15, 2022 at 3:18 pm

      Thanks, Steve. 🙂 I’m super-excited about this book myself. It’s been one of the most personal non-fiction books I’ve ever worked on.

      Reply
  25. Lisa Traugott says
    November 16, 2022 at 9:48 am

    This is amazing!! Thank you so much for posting. I’m sharing the link to my writing group at History Quill.

    Reply
  26. jjpk says
    November 18, 2022 at 11:20 am

    Thanks! This is a great reference list! I’m planning now to re-read all your articles on the Second Act.

    Reply
  27. Michael Versluys says
    January 27, 2025 at 8:39 am

    Just when I think you’ve covered everything, you drop this! What a resource! Thank you KM, your posts have really helped me as a writer and marketer.

    Reply
  28. Helen A Aveling says
    January 27, 2025 at 8:55 am

    As an individual who lives _within_ a disabled body, it is so rare to find characters who aren’t stereotyped. We are far more likely to be shown verging on the 2D than 3D. It annoys me enormously, and its not just the story but the artwork that goes with it in the form of cover design as well as any in-text art. Back in the late 2000s I curated a book looking at the portrayal of disability in children’s fiction, starting with collectable girls school stories but which widened to encompass stories for all children. I was so saddened to find that the best portrayals came from the early 20th century and became less and convincing as the century went on. Called “Unseen Childhoods: Disabled Characters in 20th-Century Books for Girls” it is available from Amazon UK if anyone is interested, although Amazon always messes up the author credits! I hope it’s OK for me to share the title.

    Reply
  29. Ingmar Albizu says
    January 27, 2025 at 8:00 pm

    Thanks for all the links. Very helpful.

    Reply
  30. veganlife4u says
    January 28, 2025 at 6:48 am

    After so many replies giving you thanks, I thought, one more? what does it matter? But then I couldn’t restrain from expressing my wholehearted gratitude. So K. thank you sooo much. That’s all. I normally don’t leave replies. But this one is special

    Reply
  31. Joan K says
    January 28, 2025 at 1:03 pm

    Thank you, Katie, this is awesome.

    Reply
  32. Michael says
    February 1, 2025 at 9:03 pm

    Good day! I just saw your site and read a few of your guides, and found them really informative. This is my first time commenting, so I’m not sure if you’ve already tackled about this.

    I’m currently working on a book project. The theme is about the main character fighting against an oppressive regime. I tried plotting my story using both the three-act and four-act structure methods, but it seems that my story could not fit in either. So I tried splitting my story into different parts, each with their own three-act/four-act structures.

    I was having doubts on whether my story was too big to fit in one book, and that I may need to split them into small parts containing their own sets of conflicts and antagonists. I was wondering if you have already posted an article on how to navigate this conundrum.

    Reply
  33. Clint Richards says
    March 16, 2025 at 8:50 pm

    I have always been a pantser. I was ok with doing that with the short stories of 8, 000 to 20,000 words shorts, but I have 3 stories that I think are going to be much bigger and I looked into writing books. I have 7 of your book, so far, the 3 that have workbooks and Archetypical character arcs.

    My question is if you hade to put your books in order to read from a beginning students perspective of the craft, what order would you put them in?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.