Favorite Stories: Reading vs. Writing
The story elements I loved as a child still hold true for me today. The stories and genres I read now have grown up and matured, but the aspects that resonate with me haven’t changed.
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Blogiversary Winners & a New Worksheet!
I can’t make everyone a winner in my Blogiversary contest, but I can give everyone a gift by releasing a new worksheet. Yay! A couple of my readers asked me to take a look a John Truby’s work and see if I could come up with a worksheet based on his teachings.
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The Silver Lining of Bad Reviews
Whether we pursue traditional publishing or self-publishing, rejection is a given for writers. Our choice simply comes down to how we’ll handle it. Will we let rejection hold us back, or can we see it as a sign that we’re doing something right?
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How to Use Layers to Show Intense Emotions
A “numb” reaction isn’t unusual for dark or deep emotions. In fact, it’s probably fairly normal. But it makes writing the scene more difficult. How do we show numb and deep emotions at the same time? How can readers connect to an emotionless character?
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7 Storytelling Lessons from Sports
At their essence, most sports have a lot in common with storytelling. There are “good guys” (the home team) and “bad guys” (the visiting team), and they battle for who comes out on top. The audience becomes emotionally involved and roots for those they identify with to succeed, and we […]
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Do You Discuss Your Work in Progress?
I’ve often thought about adding word count widgets to my site but quickly resist the notion. My internal debate sparked a question about how writers approach their works in progress. Do you know which side you fall on?
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6 Steps to Balance Your Editing: Plot vs. Characters
When starting a revision, we often struggle to see the underlying issue to know how to fix it. Do we need to change the plot? The characters? Both?
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Expand Our Senses and Improve Our Descriptions
How many hundreds of times have we all heard the advice to “show not tell”? That’s often good advice (except for the times when it’s not *smile*). Other than the exceptions, “showing” usually is better than telling because it pulls the reader deeper into the story. But that means we […]
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Writer’s Block? Use a Random Generator
Have writer’s block? Or need some brainstorming help? Here’s a huge collection of random generators for both plot and character issues.
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One Step to Better Writing and More Diversity
The push for diversity isn’t about valuing diversity over storytelling. Or about meeting a quota. Or making a statement. This is about being a better writer.
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