MacGuffin, sometimes spelled McGuffin, is a term used by screenwriters for something that gets the plot rolling but doesn’t have significance itself. This occurs almost always in thrillers, but it’s also present in most genres. Today, we are going to Read more…
I feel like I’ve read a million articles on how to do a book launch for a new release, and yet I still don’t feel like I have a clear picture of it. Despite the generic advice out there on Read more…
When you write in any point of view that isn’t omniscient, you get to write a story through the eyes of a biased character. Every word of the book is filtered through the POV character’s eyes. The best part is Read more…
After talking about tropes, I want to take it one step further and discuss cliches. Our world is full of them, but they are often not welcome in our literature. Cliches are overused opinions that most people find common enough Read more…
Tropes are a highly debated topic in the writing world. Some love them. Some hate them. Yet tropes are a powerful tool in stories as long as they aren’t overdone to the point of being cliches. Let’s start by defining Read more…
The most important part of any author marketing strategy is to build an email list through a newsletter. This gives you direct access to your readers without having to rely on a third party go-between. Newsletters vary in style, content, Read more…
It’s time to dig back into the nitty gritty details of character development again. In this post, I want to go into how your characters deal with confrontation. In any book, characters will clash with other characters, hopefully more than Read more…
After talking about foreshadowing last week, I can’t help but bring up its counterpart: red herrings. While red herrings are instrumental in thrillers and mysteries, they can also play a big role in other genres. Today, I want to go Read more…
Has anyone ever said your story’s ending wasn’t satisfying? Or maybe that the story didn’t hold the reader’s attention throughout? If so, these symptoms could be from a lack of foreshadowing. Today I’m going to go over two types of Read more…
In Medias Res is one of those phrases that writers throw around, but not many seem to actually understand. The Latin phrase means “in the midst of things.” There are many different interpretations, but I’ve traced the term back to Read more…