Writing a strong premise before you begin working on story structure (if you are a plotter) or just starting to write (if you are a panster) is important for a number of reasons. First, it will help you bring the idea for your story to life, and it is one of the foundational steps in … Read more
Maybe your protagonist needs someone to bounce around ideas with. Or maybe your hero/ine needs guidance. Or maybe your protagonist needs someone to set them straight on those things that your hero/ine doesn’t want to deal with. You may need a mentor character in your novel.
Hiya! It feels like it’s been a decade since I’ve last posted, but here I am again with an attempt at normalcy. The last several posts were about various scenes or parts of a plot. I posted those bits and pieces with the intent of helping you to organize ten scenes that will help write … Read more
It’s a weird world right now. How about we do something with some normalcy? Like work on your story outline. You’ve been working on your manuscript outline draft and we’ve covered the first few of story blocks in your outline to help you get on your path to writing: the opening scene, the climax, the … Read more
We’ve talked about the inciting incident, and the climax in our plotting process. Now it’s time to consider the ending. Endings can be tricky. Endings should be gratifying and fulfilling for your reader. After all, the reader has invested their time into reading your ENTIRE book and unhappy readers are not good for writers. Make … Read more
When you think of your story’s plot, it is helpful to think of a story’s parts to help you see the big picture and help you to begin to work out your story’s plot. All stories have beginnings, middles, and endings. They also have inciting incidents, midpoints, and climaxes. Regardless of the genre of book … Read more
It\’s summer which is a reminder for me to evaluate my writing progress. While I don\’t make New Year\’s Resolutions at the beginning of the year, I do make a list of goals. I never achieve them perfectly, but I do move closer to achieving them over time, and I do the work step-by-step to … Read more
Writing is a solitary activity. It just isn’t possible to have someone else do your writing for you. Sure, you can hire a ghost writer, but then the ghost writer is the actual writer, not you. If YOU are the writer, then you must do that activity all by your lonesome. There is no other … Read more
After my speech at Pubcon17 last weekend on the topic of the paths to publishing, several attendees requested that I blog the information so they could have it available as a reference. Consequently, I am going to detour off our previous topic of scene writing for the next few weeks to accommodate this request. What … Read more