Actions include the character’s physical doings, as well as his/her state of being and decisions (s)he makes. Obviously. Y’know what? Developing the RIGHT actions and not rambling is harder than you think. Just like...
Your characters superficial, immediate, and long-term wants and goals are just like anyone else’s desires. Love, happiness, riches, fame, all the other cliches. Are you suggesting humans are superficial and flat like characters? Suggesting?...
Once upon a time, language was an art. Words and letters were manipulated to create an effect, to connect with people, and to leave lasting impressions. The things writers could do with words was...
Characters with contrasting features that juxtapose and make the protagonist’s characteristics obvious are what we call “foils”. Is that symbolic to like the different sides of foil? Like, how one is shiny and the...
A character’s need for a change in order to progress toward a desire is what really makes or breaks a good story. What about the whole desire thing? The desire is what drives the...
How your character speaks is important to understand their background. Rather than info-dump, you can imply it with accent, speech patterns, idioms…
As I started to work on my character development, I had to keep in mind that dialogue is a key feature to understanding a character. How they speak can reveal much of their demographics–let alone the content of their conversation. If you didn’t know that, you know it now.
Take what you need and delete what you want. Remember, this is a start of the basics. If you can get these scenes in, you’re in a good place.
Everyone has something to say about writing. I started cross-referencing each and found that 7 prolific writers agree on these 7 rules every time.
I don’t know if it’s just me or if there’s honestly stories everywhere. See what I see and get inspired from these 6 Not-So-Obvious Places for story ideas.
A story has to have the substance that reflects life. It’s more than having a bunch of events happen; those events have to have a conflict to drive it.
I get it–it’s easier. But, that doesn’t mean it should be done. It kills me when my high school freshmen mix up motifs and themes. Thinking they’re interchangeable, it makes it almost impossible to...
You ask Google a question and millions of results pop up within a few seconds…you need a home-base for articles that can help you write your stories. I got you!
Novellas are for those of us with too many ideas and not enough attention span. Especially when you have too much on your mind and not enough coffee.
There are 350+ literary elements, depending on how you define it. When telling a good story, you only need to focus on conflict, context, and character.
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The poetry market is a smaller one that can be harder to break into. However, there is still a way to get your poems out there. You can publish your work in as simple as 6 steps if you really want to, and this book is how.
