Build Toward The Story’s End
Have you ever read a story that was more like a loosely connected series of events than a story built upon action and reaction, cause and effect? What did you think of such a story? Were you...
View ArticleAnother Take on Dialogue Tags
I’ve written about dialogue tags before—The Use and Misuse of Dialogue Tags—but after recently talking with a writer about them, I thought it time to revisit the subject. I may touch on some of the...
View ArticleDare to Challenge Your Characters
Today we’re going to look at characters, at the way you treat your characters. Specifically I want to challenge you to challenge them, especially any of your lead characters. All of your lead...
View ArticleMake Readers Care
Plots that go nowhere or characters that inspire no interest are death to your stories. If nothing interesting happens in a novel, readers are likely to put it down. If characters don’t engage the...
View ArticleKeeping Adjectives in Line
Native speakers of a language typically understand many grammar rules without having to study those rules. Yet some rules can be a problem for any of us, especially if we don’t know that we actually...
View ArticleFind Inspiration When You Are Uninspired
Many writers have more ideas than time; they’ll never write as many stories as they’ve considered writing, as many stories as they have ideas for. But maybe you haven’t had a good story idea in a...
View ArticleHabits, Motions, and Common Actions of Fictional Characters
A writer and I were recently talking about variety in character habits and motions, the physical movements of characters that both distinguish characters and add movement to a scene. At almost the same...
View ArticleHow Much Back Story Should I Include
A writer and I were talking about back story, about how much to include, how much is too much, what’s necessary to include in any one book when you’re working on a series. I addressed the basics of...
View ArticleLessons From TV Shows and Movies
I started this article almost a year ago. Apparently I was fed up by the writing on some TV show—maybe a couple of shows—writing that didn’t make sense for the characters and their story. I have no...
View ArticleRight Place, Right Time Syndrome
The discussion on a recent article about learning from movies and TV reminded me about another issue that can challenge a reader’s belief in fictional events and characters. I’ve written about...
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Push Yourself to New Heights or Explore the Depths
I haven’t written an article of encouragement recently, but since the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo or NaNo) is next month, I thought I’d take a few minutes to encourage you to begin a new...
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Final Day for Introductory Price ($35/1st Year) Membership
Just a reminder that Tuesday, November 11, 2014 is the final day the introductory price of $35 (for the first year) will be available. Beginning Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014, the price for first-year...
View ArticleDon’t Shortchange Those Second and Third and Tenth Books
Most writers are nearly obsessive about their first novels. They spend inordinate amounts of time crafting the perfect opening line, the most captivating opening action sequence, a memorable final...
View ArticleConsistency Can Trump Problems
While there are rules for the fiction elements as well as rules for punctuation and grammar, most writers eventually discover that they don’t have to be slaves to the rules in order to create...
View ArticleStory Openings in a Digital World—The First Page is a Sales Tool
You’ve read all the advice about how your first page, first paragraph, even your first sentence and first words have to entice readers. And you’ve no doubt followed all the advice, diligently and...
View ArticleLesson from Mad Men Finale—It’s the Real Thing
I used examples from TV shows and movies once before as a way to highlight what can work and what might not work in terms of fictional elements, but the final episode of Mad Men contained what many...
View ArticleUse Beta Readers to Strengthen Your Stories
This article began as advice for writers getting ready to self-publish, advice to remind them that someone else should read their stories before they’re released to the public. Yet the information...
View ArticleBetrayal—the Ultimate Conflict
I don’t know how many of you watch TV’s Game of Thrones or have read George R. R. Martin’s series a Song of Ice and Fire, but a lot has happened on the TV show the past couple of weeks. And a whole lot...
View ArticleCompound Words—Using This Cheat Sheet is Not Cheating
The spelling of compound words is one of those not-so-sexy but majorly useful topics that writers should have a handle on. The right spellings can make manuscripts look good and help convey the correct...
View ArticleLessons from the Movies—The Force Awakens
I hadn’t planned on writing about the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. I’ve actually been working on an article about correlative conjunctions (and apparently it doesn’t have my full attention)....
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