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Fiction writers sometimes mistakenly think that story “stakes” only apply to mysteries or thrillers. Yet every story must have stakes that are important to the character and to the readers. Writing Tip for Today: Let’s discuss how you might raise the stakes of your story. Wider Circle If your story feels ordinary, raising the stakes […]
When you type “The End,” on your manuscript, it’s really only the beginning. Before you hire an editor, learn self-editing techniques. Writing Tip for Today: What’s a strategy for self-editing your work? Start Real Big I admit that I’m a Big Picture type editor. Yet if the overall message or story isn’t conveyed or seem […]
When you write a story—short, novel or memoir—we can always improve our approach to writing scenes. Writing Tip for Today: Let’s discuss ways of writing better scenes. Find the Why If you aren’t sure why you’re writing a scene in your story, the characters may not be able to advance the story. By that I […]
As we kickstart our fall writing goals, let’s refresh the ways we can put our scenes to work. Writing Tip for Today: What are some ways to make scenes work better? Give Scenes a Why Fiction writing comes to life through scenes. Readers can envision the story unfolding as if it were a film or […]
A common problem for fiction writers is we can confuse stories with situations. Here are some thoughts on how to tell the difference. Writing Tip for Today: Let’s discuss stories and situations and their importance to fiction writing. What Is Situation? We can write about a situation and still not tell a story. The TV […]
You’re writing a book and you’re excited about the idea you dreamed up. How do you get from idea to manuscript? Writing Tip for Today: Let’s discuss the distance from your ideas to creating the actual manuscript. Be Practicing When I coach writers, I first want to know how much actual writing they’ve done on […]
If you write fiction, chances are that you’ve heard the term “hero’s journey.” But what does that actually mean for you as the writer? Writing Tip for Today: Let’s talk about the hero’s journey and what it means for your story. Somebody to Love Your hero or she-roe must be someone whom readers can at […]
Much of what writers do involves waiting. We submit our work to publishers or periodicals, hoping for good news, growing thick skin for bad news. Writing Tip for Today: Here are some tips for handling both good and bad writing news: Twenty-four Rule I started writing in high school, when a creative writing teacher insisted […]
When a new character comes on stage, it’s important to describe that person right away. Writing Tip for Today: Let’s discuss ways to introduce a character. Enter, Stage Right Have you ever read a story where a new character comes on stage without any description? Whether we’re aware or not, we automatically want to assign […]
Last post we talked about writing effective dialogue in general. Today let’s take it a bit further. Writing Tip for Today: Here are some more tips for writing effective dialogue: Too Much or Not Enough New writers often lean heavily to one side or the other—either they allow too much narrative to dampen scenes or […]