How Can We Make Our Story’s Conflict Stronger?
It’s time for another post as a Resident Writing Coach over at Writers Helping Writers, and this time we’re talking about the obstacles preventing change.
Pin ItBackstory: Avoid Info Dumping by Making It Essential: Part 2 — Guest: Kris Kennedy
A character’s false belief is central to a story’s internal arc, and the defining moment in a character’s backstory is key to creating that false belief.
Pin It“A Leap of Faith” in Fiction and in Life
Near the end of a story the protagonist often takes “a leap of faith.” How can we make our protagonist’s leap feel earned and strengthen our story’s theme?
Pin ItCan Passive Goals Ever Be Good for Our Story?
Our characters don’t want to change, so they often start with passive internal goals. How we can make those passive goals work for us and our story?
Pin ItThe Power of Character Arcs
Without spoilers for Avengers: Endgame, let’s explore how the power of the Marvel movies isn’t about the plot or spectacle—but with the characters.
Pin ItWhat Defines Our Story? Drive vs. Focus
Ever feel like popular writing advice doesn’t apply to your story? Defining our story’s mix of drive vs. focus might help us know when advice is a bad fit.
Pin ItCreating Characters Who Clash — Guest: Angela Ackerman
Every page of our story should include tension, such as friction between characters, but how do we create characters who clash? Let’s see how to develop characters who create tension in every interaction.
Pin ItMore Than a Happy Ending: What Makes a Story Uplifting?
The romance genre is often called “aspirational,” but even romances with a happy ending can fail at being uplifting. What other elements contribute to an uplifting story and what can they teach us about other genres?
Pin ItStruggle to Write Characters? Here’s Help!
As writers, we have to make our characters seem real to readers, but it’s often not easy. So here’s two resources that can help us create characters that seem real.
Pin ItNeed Help Writing Emotions? The Emotion Thesaurus Second Edition Is Here!
I’ve been helping Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi at Writers Helping Writers keep a big secret: The Emotion Thesaurus Second Edition! Angela and Becca have added new responses, new entries, and new writing tips.
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