Conflict is what holds characters back from achieving their objectives — and it’s also what propels our stories forward and makes them resonate deeply with readers.
Read morePractical Tips for Plotting Your Novel
What can the Cheshire Cat teach us about writing a novel?
Read moreA Comprehensive Guide to Plot
Here’s a question I get frequently from new authors: How do you turn your ideas into a cohesive plot?
Read moreWhat Taylor Swifts Vault Tracks Can Teach Authors About Not Killing Your Darlings
If the vault tracks are tracks that didn’t make the original albums, then they’re a variation of the “scraps” I tell authors to save from their drafts. They’re scenes, storylines, characters, images, and just pretty combinations of words that don’t fit in the current work in progress for one reason or another.
Read moreHow to Write Your Second Draft
Buckle up, because this is going to be a big revision. If the first draft was you telling the story to yourself, the second is about figuring out how to tell it to other people. But here’s the truth: you’ve got this.
Read moreDon’t Kill Your Darlings: Save Them for Later, Instead
Sometimes our manuscripts are better off when we delete those carefully crafted paragraphs, scenes, or even entire characters. But that doesn’t mean you need to kill your darlings.
Read moreWriting In Layers: Why It’s Okay for Your First Draft to Be Full of Holes
Next time you hit a wall in your work in progress, just hop over it. Leave yourself a little placeholder for your next pass, and keep moving forward to get that story down on the page.
Read moreWhy Every Author Needs a Commonplace Book — And What to Put in It
A commonplace book can be a great tool for just about anybody, and it can be particularly useful for authors as a repository for inspiration, ideas, and notes that can help us win our battles with writer’s block.
Read moreRevision Is Not Optional (And That Should Be a Relief)
Yes, the revision process is tedious and painful and frustrating. But isn’t it also liberating?
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