One of your chief jobs as a writer is to come up with story events—stuff that happens in your story. Coming up with these exciting elements is likely why you started writing in the first place. Like C.S. Lewis, you were zapped with the electrifying image of a faun carrying packages and an umbrella through the snow—and […]
October 19, 2016 by 89 Comments Narrative3 Ways Writers Can Instantly Spot Telling
Show, don’t tell is a broad concept, which is why one rule doesn’t cover it all. It’s subjective, and each telling instance found in your writing must be evaluated in context. Does this sentence sound like telling? Is this scene explaining too much? But if you look at only the text, you risk missing “told […]
September 12, 2016 by 77 Comments Plotting Your NovelThe Only 5 Ingredients You Need for Story Subtext
If there’s a magic ingredient in writing, it’s story subtext. It’s actually not magic, of course, any more than any of the other demystified techniques of structure, theme, or character arc. But story subtext often seems like magic simply because, by its very nature, it is the execution of the unexplained. Subtext is supposed to be invisible. It lives […]
September 5, 2016 by 63 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 53: No Contractions in Dialogue
What’s the worst writing mistake an author can make? It’s a broad one: doing something you think makes you look sophisticated and clever, when really… it doesn’t. A common manifestation of this is a conscientious avoidance of contractions in dialogue and narrative. I’ll admit I fell prey to this as a young writer (who not […]
April 17, 2016 by 123 Comments Point of ViewEverything You Need to Know About Writing a 3rd-Person POV
Chances are good you’re using a third-person POV (or Point of View) in your story right now. If not, then you likely used it in the past or will give it a try in the future. It’s a nearly universal writing technique and the most popular of all the POV choices. But are you using […]
January 27, 2016 by 70 Comments NarrativeHow to Write Realistic Fight Scenes
Writing realistic fight scenes can feel like being in one. Then again, being in a fight involves reaction, quick thinking, and intuition. A lot of times writing the scene takes the opposite: careful choreography, thinking, and re-thinking–and more. When I started writing fight scenes, I did it by feel. I had an advantage: I’m a […]
November 30, 2015 by 52 Comments Point of ViewHow to Choose the Right POV (What I Learned Writing Storming)
Your novel is going to be the product of a series of important decisions. One of the most important of those decisions is one many authors take for granted: the point of view (POV) from which the story will be told. Let me implore you right now: Don’t take POV for granted! The slapdash POV […]
November 9, 2015 by 40 Comments Narrative6 Steps to Create a Fantastic Narrative Voice (What I Learned Writing Storming)
You hear it all the time: readers’ time is precious, and they’re not going to waste it on books that aren’t da bomb. I certainly feel that way about my own reading choices. What’s my main criterion for instantly recognizing when a book isn’t going to be worth my time as a reader? Voice. It all comes […]
July 22, 2015 by 9 Comments NarrativeThe Key to Writing Good Action Scenes (Hint: It’s Not Just the Action)
This week’s video shows you how you can mimic Jurassic Park in streamlining your narrative and keeping your action scenes tight. Video Transcript: Two admissions to start off with today. First, I admit the title is slightly misleading. The key to writing good action scenes isn’t action? What’s up with that? Because if action is the […]
July 10, 2015 by 35 Comments Point of View9 Ways to Use Point of View to Strengthen Your Story’s Characters
One of the author’s primary tools to create great characters is point of view (POV). The character or characters through whom the reader experiences your narrative will become the people they know best, and, if those characters are compelling, the friends they carry with them after the story is done. As writers, we must consider […]
