What to Write Next: Playing Favorites
The vast majority of us will write more than one story during our life, so at some point in our career, we’ll have to decide what we’re going to write next. The question then becomes, how do we decide?
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Transition Techniques: Meanwhile, in Our Subplot…
Last time, we discussed how to identify and fix episodic writing to make our stories stronger with the “But” and “Therefore” rule. However, there’s another option for transitioning from scene to scene: the “meanwhile.”
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Story Immersion: How Can We Improve Our Readers’ Experience? — Guest: Jefferson Smith
Beyond the vague instruction to “write well,” what can we do to increase the connection readers feel with our story? Jefferson Smith shares specific things we can do that will make our stories more immersive.
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Understanding Our POV Choices — Guest: Susan Tuttle
When we first start writing, we might emulate what we’ve seen in our reading, but the default point of view isn’t necessarily the best choice. How can we know which choice is right for our story?
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Don’t Let Impostor Syndrome Ruin Your Writing — Guest: Kassandra Lamb
Many of us struggle with the fear of being a fraud. But if we recognize impostor syndrome, we might be able to avoid the self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviors that can hurt our writing.
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Deep POV and Hidden Messages in Subtext — Guest: Lisa Hall-Wilson
Deep POV relates the story from inside our character’s head, and subtext hides meanings between our words. Together, those concepts develop our characters and the relationship between them.
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Writer Strengths: How Do You Persevere?
As writers, we push ourselves to learn new skills and strengthen our craft—despite discouragement, lack of support, and only a small chance of success. We persevere.
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Want to Write with Diversity but Not Sure How? — Guest: Bran L. Ayres
When we want to write inclusively, letting our lazy brain rely on assumptions can lead to problems. Bran L. Ayres is here with resources and tools to help.
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Showing vs. Telling: How Do We Choose?
One of the most common pieces of writing advice is to Show, Don’t Tell. In many cases, that’s good advice, but as with most advice, that “rule” is imperfect and incomplete.
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NaNo Prep: Getting a Handle on Our Story
To make NaNo work for us, we need to figure out our goals for the experience—and there’s no wrong answer. However, if our goal is to create a coherent story, we should try to understand story structure.
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