Writing a Passive Protagonist?
Passive protagonists are often frowned upon in the writing world. They don’t influence the plot enough and make it harder for readers to get invested in them, and the story. Learn about passive protagonists and how to make them active. One of the most common pieces of writing advice given in regards to protagonists, is […]
Is Your Story Idea Worth Writing About?
Every story begins with an idea. The idea may come to you while listening to a song, driving a car, or reading a newspaper. You might be the kind of person who gets a dozen story ideas a day, or maybe they come to you rarely. The question is, how do you know if your […]
How to Get a Book Published
Are you looking to publish a book? Let me tell you how to get it done. Today, there are two paths to publishing: traditional publishing and self- (or independent) publishing. Traditional publishing generally refers to an established publishing house, employing requisition editors, editors, copyeditors, a design team, marketers/promotion specialists and sales teams. The publishing house […]
How to Build a Better Outline For Your Novel
You probably wouldn’t sink a million dollars into building a home without a blueprint. You certainly wouldn’t begin creating something as intricate as a cathedral without detailed plans. So why would you sink a year or two into composing a novel without plotting it?
4 Ways to Avoid a Dead-End Writing Career
A writing career isn’t easy, but these four things will help you avoid a dead-end one. Have you ever seen a talented new writer rise to seeming stardom, only to crash and burn within a couple of years? I recall being a new writer and studying my contemporaries with a mixture of awe and fear, […]
Strong Act Structure Creates Stronger Stories
In storytelling structure, people use the term “act” rather broadly and vaguely. Most in the writing community break stories down into three acts: beginning, middle, and end. But if you asked many writers what an act actually is, they would probably give you blank stares. Despite acts being key structural units in stories, they don’t […]
The Value of a Logline
A logline, or log line, is a simple description of a story that is only a sentence long. It boils the story down to its essence. Unlike the tagline, which is created as a marketing hook, the logline gives the basic premise of the story. Here are three loglines for three famous movies: Luke Skywalker joins […]
The Value of a Tagline
A tagline is a single sentence that describes a film or book in a defining way. Choosing a tagline early can help you write your story with the proper tone. When writing a screenplay or a book, one of the first things that a writer may do is create a tagline. This is a single line […]
4 Tips for Writing a Positive Relationship
Writing a relationship plotline is key for almost any story. Most narratives will feature a relationship that arcs positively through the book–whether the characters are love interests, friends, family members, allies, coworkers, or what have you. While it’s possible to highlight a negative relationship, audiences typically crave a meaningful one that brings the characters closer […]
Are You Writing a Book or a Movie?
Writing a book requires a different approach than writing a movie. Each medium has different strengths, particularly with viewpoint. In his book on screenwriting, George Lucas briefly discusses the difference in approach between writing a movie or a book. Since this question lies at the heart of so many problems that I see with new […]