Where Normal Need Not Apply
It’s hard to find an editor we can trust. To help, I’m sharing Part One of Jeff Lyons guest post with the questions we should ask before hiring story help, such as editors and consultants.
Pin It
It’s time for another post as a Resident Writing Coach over at Writers Helping Writers, and this time we’re talking about how to take the major beats of a beat sheet and apply them to our story’s genre.
Pin It
In Part Two, Jeff Lyons shares more of the most common writing myths and the lie and danger for us if we believe them. Learn the truth instead.
Pin It
In situations where we want to improve—such as writing—we focus our time on analyzing our weaknesses, and that’s necessary to identify how we can reach the next level of expertise. But at the same time, if we fail to recognize our strengths, we might suffer in several ways.
Pin ItSome writing advice out there is great, while other tips are misleading, impossible to follow, or just plain wrong. Unfortunately, that bad advice can be shared just as much as the good advice. Today, Jeff Lyons busts some of the most common writing myths.
Pin It
In Kristen Lamb’s guest post series on antagonists, we’ve talked a lot about the non-evil, non-villain style of antagonists. Today we’re finally(!) focusing on the villain and how we can avoid mustache-twirling by giving them depth.
Pin It
We’ve explored how antagonists act as the conflict-engine for our story, but our Big Boss Troublemaker isn’t in every scene. What keeps the rest of our story going? Kristen’s going to teach us today about scene antagonists.
Pin It
Over the past couple of weeks, Kristen Lamb has been kind enough to let me share her insights on antagonists: what they are, why they help define our story, how to strengthen them, etc. Today, we’re exploring how antagonists create our story from beginning to end.
Pin It
In a “man vs. self” story, we can’t just show a character arguing with themselves. Instead, Kristen shows us how to use a technique like in the movie Black Swan—where the outward antagonists represent the protagonist’s own issues.
Pin It
Sometimes, we’ll say that a character is their own worst enemy, such as the “man versus himself” story premise. However, those stories use proxies to provide a face for the opposition. Today, we’re going to dig deeper into this idea of man versus self to better understand the concept.
Pin It
