Active vs. Passive Voice: Was and Not Was
Some verb tenses can cause confusion with passive voice. What is passive voice, and how can we tell when the word “was” is not a sign of passive voice?
Pin ItBeyond the Past: Understanding the Past Perfect Tense
Many writers struggle to use the past perfect tense correctly, so let’s review when the past perfect tense applies to our story and how to use it properly.
Pin ItEscape Generic Storytelling by Asking “Why?”
The most important question we can ask to get in touch with every aspect of our story is “why”—even helping us escape generic or cliché storytelling.
Pin ItStorytelling Verb Tenses: Past, Present, and “Literary” Past Tense
Most stories are written in literary past tense. What does that term mean, and if different from normal past tense, how is literary past tense different?
Pin ItCharacter Internalization: To Italicize or Not to Italicize?
A common question in writing forums asks when we should italicize a character’s thoughts. How should we format our characters’ internalizations?
Pin ItWriting Craft: How Point-of-View Affects Dialogue
We often want to share both characters’ reactions during dialogue. How can we do so without causing point-of-view, head-hopping, or attribution issues?
Pin ItWriting Craft Basics: How to Format Dialogue
We probably think we know everything about dialogue formatting already, but let’s make sure we know all there is to know before assuming.
Pin ItStory Elements: Give Them Purpose
For a strong story pace, we need to ensure every element has purpose. How can we do that? How can we know if a scene or sentence is pointless?
Pin ItStory Pacing: How Can We Ensure Our Pacing Is “Good”?
It’s time for another post as a Resident Writing Coach over at Writers Helping Writers, where we’re talking about what makes a story’s pacing “good.”
Pin ItNeed Advice from an Editor?
As we go through the editing process, we might have questions we wish we could ask a professional editor. How can we get our question answered?
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