Story Obstacles: The Benefits of Taking Two Steps Back

A broken bridge leads to nowhere with the text: Making Our Characters Worse Off

Need more obstacles for your story and characters? Here’s how to easily make obstacles stronger, especially for our Black Moment.

Black Moments: Understanding Our Options

Dark hallway in black and white with window at end with text: What Leads to Our Story's Black Moment?

What should trigger our story’s Black Moment? Let’s take a deeper look at the role this turning point plays with our story and our character.

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Organization…for Our Creativity and Our Career

Rainbow of neon markers with text: How Can We Get Organized?

Eventually, every writer will need an organizational system, but many of us struggle to find one that works for us. Here are a few insights and resources.

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Do Your Characters Take on a Life of Their Own?

Closeup of a speaker with text: What's Our Character's Voice?

How can we get to know our characters well enough that they take on a life of their own? Is it a good sign if we hear their voice?

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What’s the Difference Between an Inciting Incident and a First Plot Point?

Sign marked TRAIL surrounded by woods with text: Starting on the Right Path

To get from our opening pages to the rest of our story, can an Inciting Incident story beat help us? How is that beat different from the First Plot Point?

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How to Bridge the Gap in Your Story’s Momentum

Apple on books with text: Deepen Your Craft with Resident Writing Coach Jami Gold (at Writers Helping Writers)

It’s time for another post as a Resident Writing Coach over at Writers Helping Writers, and this time we’re talking about bridging conflict.

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Story Endings: How to Write a Strong Resolution

Fireworks reflecting over water with text: What Makes a Finale Great?

Our story’s opening is important for gaining readers, but our story’s ending is what sells readers on our next book. What makes a story resolution great?

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Developing a Beat Sheet into an Outline — Guest: Marty C. Lee

White square outline on black with text: Discovering the Outline of Our Story

To discover the best drafting process for us, we might need to experiment.
Today, Marty C. Lee shares how she develops story beats into a chapter-by-chapter outline.

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