Blog
How to Choose the Best Genre for Your Story
Do you remember when you first started writing? What drove you to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard)? For me, like for many writers, it was a story that just wouldn’t leave me alone. I’d always been a daydreamer, coming up with different scenarios or events,...
Paring Down The Requirements of Story to Four
For years now, I’ve preached about The Five Requirements of Story. It’s been a pillar I’ve stood on and has driven everything from the way I edit and coach, to my personal writing and marketing. As much as I’ve had faith in these requirements, there has always been a...
How To Use the Grief Cycle to Deepen Connection
Ever heard of the grief cycle? Most of us have, and all of us have experienced it. According to Kubler-Ross, there are five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Formerly, the thought was that we cycle through these feelings one after the...
Do Something Better than Giving Your Character Quirks
When you scroll through Pinterest or Instagram looking for ways to strengthen your characters, you may run into this common piece of advice: Give your character a quirk. According to dictionary.com, a quirk is a “peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality.” A...
Essential Scenes Make the Genre
Mystery or Romance? Sci-Fi or Fantasy? Literary or Non-sense? The single most important question asked is, “What’s my genre?” This can be a confusing topic for most contemporary writers. Your story is set in the future, contains a murder, and the protagonist gets...
How to Write When You Don’t Have the Time
One of the biggest frustrations I hear from new writers is that they can’t find the time to write. Let’s face it: Writing and editing are the hard parts; the imagining is where the fun is. For several months, life was tough. It was stressful, and it felt like I was...