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…
Last week we discussed your character’s subjective image of himself, and now I want to talk about how and when to expose your character’s core self. We all have an ideal self-image we try to portray to the world, but in moments of high pressure, the truth will slip out. Read more…
In this week’s Character Under a Microscope post, I want to zoom in on a character’s image. Specifically, her self-imposed image. While everyone has a persona that society sees, it’s not always the truth. Let’s look at a person’s subjective image and five categories to consider when you are creating Read more…
When I started writing professionally, I was terrible at story openings. So much seemed to rest on how well you started a book that I overthought it. After numerous revisions, I’d end up with what would equate to something wrapped in silver duct tape and bright Christmas lights. It looked Read more…
A while back, I wrote a post about using sentence function to pace your novel. Today, I want to get into story pacing on a scene-level instead of a sentence-level. There is a weird correlation between your words on the page and the reader’s perceived passage of time, and it’s Read more…
In my first six months of writing these posts, I put out a list of five books every writer should read. I still stand by that list, but I’ve been building my library of writing craft books and think it’s time to share a few more gold mines I’ve discovered. Read more…
Let’s examine character development in another Character Under A Microscope post. Today, I want to talk about grieving. If you’re writing your story right, the protagonist should go through many trials and eventually end up in an All is Lost moment and a Dark Night of the Soul moment. At Read more…
Authors get the advice all the time to work emotions into their stories and evoke feelings from the readers. It’s sound advice, and there’s a plethora of resources out there on how to portray emotions, both internally and externally. Today though, I want to talk about what emotions we portray Read more…
Previously, we’ve discussed two types of book series: episodic series and anthology series. Today, we’ll examine the continuous books series, which is centered on plot. We’ll dig into its definition, examples, and key elements. Then, we will go over how to plan a continuous book series as that most often Read more…