Haunting Your Character with a Ghost (or Wound)
In storytelling, a character’s ghost is a past, significant (and often traumatic) event that shaped his worldview in a thematic way. It prepares the character arc and works as a motivator. Choose the appropriate ghost for your character and learn how to reveal it to the audience. It’s finally the month of Halloween! And if […]
Scene & Summary: Mastering When to Use Which
Writers regularly need both scene and summary to tell a great story, but sometimes it can be difficult to discern when to use which, for best effect. Occasionally when editing another’s work, I find the writer made what really should have been summaries into scenes, and what really should have been scenes, into summaries. This […]
“Author Whisperer” Paves Way for Writers to Pen Bestsellers
Many are under the false impression that bestselling writers simply sit down, write a book, and sell millions; others mistakenly think that great writers are “born.” In reality–as you may very well know by now–writing a professional-level story isn’t something that just “happens.” It’s a craft. This also means it’s a skill you can learn. […]
The Secret Ingredients for Writing Theme
Many people in the writing community caution against writing with a theme in mind. They argue that if you do, your story will feel contrived, or worse, preachy. But this is only true if you don’t know what you are doing. And for many writers, unfortunately, that is exactly the case. Setting, characters, and plot […]
How to Make Any Character Complex
In order to write a strong story, you almost always need complex characters. The three best ways to make any character complex are to create, consider, and explore their 1) seeming contradictions, 2) personal boundaries and value systems, and 3) layers of identity. Admittedly, not every character in a story needs to be round and […]
How to Write and Raise the Stakes More Effectively
Writers are repeatedly advised to “raise the stakes.” Stakes are often defined as what the character has to lose. But when you understand—more accurately—the relationship between plot and stakes, you can create them more easily. And when you understand—more accurately—how they actually work, you can raise them by using the methods in this article. How […]
Dos and Don’ts for Writing Viewpoint Voice
Many readers and editors state that a strong voice immediately draws them into a story, and one of the most important voices will come from your viewpoint character. But even when you’ve developed their personality and voice, it can still be tricky to actually get them on the page. Here are nine dos and don’ts […]
Understand and Implement Voice
In writing, voice happens at three levels: the author, the narrator, and the characters each have their own voices. While many editors and readers openly state they are hooked and reeled into a story by a strong voice, many writers struggle to understand let alone implement voice. Despite voice often being regarded as elusive, and […]
