I’ve discussed pacing before, on a sentence-level and then scene-level, and now I’d like to look at it on a book-level. Whether you are planning to write a book or going back to one that’s already written, you’ll need to consider pacing so readers stay engaged. Too slow of pacing Read more
A while back I was asked a question about character backstory, and it’s stuck with me. I’ve done a post on initial characterization, but I want to zoom in and focus specifically on backstory today. It’s a crucial part of developing a story, but it’s also often misused. Let’s talk Read more
Today I thought it’d be fun to do an analysis on book covers and go over what aspects you should consider when planning your book publication. This will be helpful whether you are creating the book cover yourself, hiring a book cover designer, or just consulting with the publisher who Read more
How do you tell a story? Writers often talk about what you put into a story and the key elements such as setting, character, plot, etc. But what is needed to effectively communicate the tale to readers? When you tell a story, there are five different modes you can use Read more
Our post today in the Character Under a Microscope series is about liars. Regardless of how good humans try to be, we all lie. What kind of lies people are willing to tell defines part of their character. I’ve divided the world into six levels of liars, and I want Read more
Are you familiar with the concept of character identification? Readers say they identify with a character. Agents send rejections based on the fact they couldn’t identify with the protagonist. There seems to be some magic ingredient that makes or breaks a character, but the reason for the attachment often varies. Read more
I recently dove into studying how to write better descriptions and imagery in books, and I learned just how many different types of figurative language are available to us. It’s overwhelming! Today, I want to go over seven different types I’ve found to be helpful. Some will be very familiar Read more
There is a lot of advice on how to write a story’s climax. While many sources state you must have an internal change in the protagonist right before or during the external plot’s climax, very few focus on how to create that change. It’s essentially the climax for the internal Read more
Somehow, I’ve gotten years into writing these posts and have not done one on external and internal story arcs. I reference these all the time so I’m sure my followers have grasped the meaning of these terms, but I want to take the time to explain these arcs and their Read more
After studying first pages and opening scenes for books, I realized I’ve never discussed how to write a good last line for a story. Most writers can just feel when a good ending line hits them, but there are specific types that most authors use. If you are stumped or Read more