Learning how to write emotional scenes is one of the single most important feats any writer must rise to. We want fiction to make us feel something. I’m not talking just a little twinge of satisfaction here or there. I’m talking full-on emotional experiences: tears, laughter, cheers, even rage on occasion. Scenes in which characters […]
August 15, 2022 by 57 Comments CharactersHow to Write Emotional Scenes (Without Making Them Cringey)
February 3, 2020 by 33 Comments Structuring Your Novel6 Steps to Create Realistic (and Powerful) Scene Dilemmas
Scenes are the building blocks of your story. As go your scenes, so goes your story. If the scenes present a solid chain of deliberate structure, that’s what your story will be. But if too many scenes lack focus or dramatic impetus, so will the story. Every aspect of scene structure is important. Any aspect […]
May 13, 2019 by 78 Comments Writing Life5 Ways Writers (Try to) Fake Their Way to Good Storytelling
Last week, I found a meme on Pinterest that showed someone dispensing two different soft drinks into the same cardboard cup. One of the drink buttons was labeled “Feeling stressed out when writing” and the other was labeled “Feeling stressed out when you haven’t written.” It’s funny because it’s true. The writing life is constantly […]
March 4, 2019 by 98 Comments CharactersHow to Write Emotion: An Experimental Study
Not too many years ago, I thought an accurately portrayed scene naturally caused readers to experience the emotions that the characters would logically feel in such situations. Not true! As Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi explain in The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, we must take our innate skills of observation and […]
September 24, 2018 by 74 Comments Narrative3 Tips for Improving Show, Don’t Tell
When looking for a new book to read, there are a couple quick tests I do to determine whether it seems like I can trust the author to know what they’re doing all book long. The first and most important of these tests usually requires just a quick glance across the first page to see […]
February 28, 2016 by 46 Comments Structuring Your NovelHow to Create Awesome Scene Arcs That Surprise Readers
There is a secret to writing good scenes. And since scenes are the heart of story itself, it’s ultimately one of the most important secrets to writing good stories, period. You may be surprised to learn this secret is not scene structure (in the classic sense of goal / conflict / disaster / reaction / dilemma […]
September 10, 2014 by 93 Comments DescriptionHow to Write a Gut-Wrenching Tragic Scene–Thanks to One Surprising Detail!
This week’s video contains a confession from me, slightly counter-intuitive advice on how to write a tragic scene, and an absolutely spot-on example from Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. Video Transcript: I have to start off this video with a confession. Within the last month or so, I stumbled across a fantastic quote of writing advice, […]
October 31, 2012 by 19 Comments Plotting Your NovelAre You Skimming Your Story’s Potential?
It’s not enough to write a story that just covers its bases. By that I mean a story that essentially works—it’s properly structured, the prose is professional, and it possesses all the working pieces (plot, character, etc.). You can check all the boxes on your story checklist and still end up with a story that […]
May 18, 2012 by 20 Comments DescriptionVisceral Reactions: Emotional Pay Dirt or Fast Track to Melodrama?
Are visceral reactions emotional pay dirt or a fast track to melodrama? The answer of course is: both! But let’s back up the cliché truck. The word “visceral” is thrown around quite a bit, but not everyone understands what it means. A visceral reaction is an instinctive, gut-deep bodily response to a stimulus or experience. Without getting too complex, neurotransmitters (chemical […]
May 29, 2011 by 78 Comments Novel EndingsDo You Have to Write Happy Endings?
In the 2003 film adaptation of Peter Pan, Wendy describes the stories she’s been telling the Lost Boys as “adventures, in which good triumphs over evil.” In response, Captain Hook sneers, “They all end in a kiss.” Like Wendy and the Lost Boys, millions of people escape into the world of fiction to find happily-ever-after […]
