A few years ago, I learned a hard lesson about writing alone. As an introvert, I tend to keep my words close to the chest until they feel “ready” to share (if they ever make it there). However, I became lost and discouraged in my draft, not knowing how to [...]
So far in #WritersRead, we’ve been pursuing growth in our story craft through analyzing books outside our usual comfort zones. This month, we’re taking a deeper look at books on writing to learn from the experts themselves. While reading great books allows us to see how things are done well in [...]
April #WritersRead Book Club Chat: Thursday, April 30th @ 7pm EST Join on Twitter! Details on how to join here Banned books are those that have been challenged (by an individual or group) and removed from schools and/or libraries in order to ‘protect children’. This month [...]
Scenes are the building blocks of stories. Individual scenes should follow a specific arc that pushes your protagonist toward a pivotal choice moment that leads directly into the next scene. Collectively, each scene of your story should form a chain of reactions that tie plot events together while ramping up [...]
Editing, rather than drafting, is usually the hardest and most time-intensive part of writing a book, especially since there are so many stages. Knowing what kind of editing you need, based on where you are in your writing journey, is crucial to saving you time and setting you up for success [...]
Banned books are those that have been challenged (by an individual or group) and removed from schools and/or libraries in order to 'protect children'. Sometimes, books have been banned out of genuine concern for students, other times groups have used the label of 'concern' to block students' exposure to diverse [...]
It is impossible to write a good book alone. Writing can feel like a solitary act that you must struggle through, hunched over at your computer desk, without any support. This is not only far from the truth, but it’s dangerous! Getting outside eyes on your work is critical to [...]
March #WritersRead Book Club Chat: Thursday, March 26th @ 7pm EST Join on Twitter! Details on how to join here This month we all read 'Children’s and middle grade stories' to see what we could learn about story craft from these books written for younger folks—especially since [...]
I hate losing momentum in my writing, so much so that I obsessively plan to prevent it. Today I'm going to share some tips for what to do when life happens and derails your writing. A few weeks ago I was on my honeymoon. I knew I wasn’t going to [...]
Writing can feel like a solitary act which you must struggle through, hunched over at your computer desk, entirely alone. This is far from the truth. In fact, outside eyes on your work are critical to telling the story you envision. Writers write for an audience just as [...]
Great scenes build an exhilarating push and pull between a story’s plot and characters. Plot events drive characters to make choices, and their choices in turn shape future plot events. This wave of tension locks in readers, compelling them to read chapter after chapter. With the 15 key elements in this guide, you can claim this page-turning power as your own! We’ve included two analyzed, annotated scenes to show you how it all works.
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