Providing advice, tools & resources for writers
Some people say the ending is the most important part of a story. I’m inclined to agree. Mess up the ending, and your reader will feel cheated. Like they’ve wasted their time. The greatest premise in the world won’t mean squat if you can’t stick the landing. That’s why we’re talking about how to end
This week I want to talk about anti-heroes. In this morally ambiguous time, it’s no longer popular to write about classic heroes who are purely good and righteous. I mean, where’s the fun in that? Gone are the days of swashbucklers like Ivanhoe and Robin Hood. Even the most recent incarnation of Superman has a
The wonderful thing about the writing community is that there are so many people to look to for inspiration. I mean, you’ve read my writing. I’m in constant need of inspiration, and do you know the kind of writer who inspires me the most? Self-starters, people with a wide-range of talents, people with true vision.
As an aspiring writer, I try to read as often as possible. Sometimes, I’ll read a piece of fiction, or a line or two of dialogue, and think-Wow, I wish I could write like that. This happened to me recently while reading Dan Buri’s Pieces Like Pottery. The book is a sincere exploration of heartbreak,
It’s November. Is it just me, or was November designed to be the most stressful month of the year? Halloween is such a fun holiday, but fast-forward twenty-four hours and all the big-box retailers start blasting Christmas carols like they’re trying to break up a hostage crisis. How can you convince your boss to give
You’ve knocked out your First Act and you have a killer Inciting Incident. What now? Well, it’s time for your Second Act, and in this act, your protagonist has one job- To Respond. A good First Act will end with a major plot point that will disrupt the protagonist’s life in a significant way. Need
When I started writing fiction I had no idea what I was doing. The stories I produced were what I like to call amoebas. They were amorphous blobs with no structure and very little plot. My stories were basically daydreams that I transcribed onto paper. I soon realized that my writing sucked. What I couldn’t
Recently, I wrote on this blog that when you start your journey as a writer you’ll find that perfect strangers are willing to help you. I was lucky enough to find one of these gracious people myself. Her name is Darlene Foster. Darlene Foster is the award-winning author of the exciting adventure series featuring spunky
Learn five common mistakes to avoid when writing a fictional dialogue. And how to fix clunky, bad dialogue and create conversations that drive your story!