Ready to tell your best story? Figure out who to channel.
To tell a great story, you need to identify the right voice and then channel her.
Tired of spinning your wheels? Make sure your stories are doing the right work.
Personal stories heal us when they settle the events weighing down our hearts and jacking up our nervous systems. But that only happens when we know what they mean.
HippoCamp Highlights Number Two: Breakout Session Roundup
Whether you’re telling stories through pictures, thinking about how to insert your “I,” or considering the micro form, HippoCamp’s presenters have some great advice for you.
HippoCamp Highlights Number One: Flash Session Highlights
Need a creative boost? Check out these tips from a few of HippoCamp’s 2022 flash presenters.
Are you stuck? Let Anne Carley teach you how to FLOAT.
When we’re stuck it can feel like we’re drowning in our process. Luckily, writing coach Anne Carley has come up with a process that can help your creative life FLOAT.
Wondering if your project is finished? Before you decide, read this.
The most frequently asked question I receive is How do you know if your project is finished? Here are the four most common answers.
Want to create interesting, authentic characters? Here’s the work you need to do. 
To be a great writer and human, we must cultivate compassion for others and ourselves.
Ready to trade N.I.C.E. for authentic? Follow these steps.
If you’re struggling to ditch N.I.C.E. for authentic, here’s what you need to do.
Find out what it really means to be N.I.C.E. and how this little word might be holding you back.
Many people are socialized to see nice as desirable. But if you really knew what this word meant, and how it holds you back, you might think differently about it.
Want to lead your biggest life? Here’s what you must do.
Life is made of the stories we tell ourselves. In this post, we’ll take a look at where those stories come from and what we can do with them.
Got stress or overwhelm and want to write about it? Here’s what you need to know.
Stress and anxiety clutter both your writing and your life. Here’s how to deal with both.
Interested in writing a story with a spiral structure? Learn what makes one successful.
The perceived freedom of the spiral structure is what attracts many writers. But as Jane Alison reveals, rule following leads to a successful one.
The both/and space is something writers of tough stories must cultivate. Here’s how.
To create a sustainable, resilient writing life, we need to make time for our writing and the lives we want to live—which can feel like no small feat in a world that focuses on doing, and a publishing industry that tells us we’re behind, not just on our writing, but on our author platforms.
The role anxiety plays in our lives and how to show it in your book
There are two ways we cope with anxiety—worry and avoidance. Your job is to figure out how you’ll reveal this in your manuscript.
To move your story forward, think about oppositions.
Often, change happens in opposition. When we understand the things working in opposition in our stories, we can use them to maintain our story’s tension.
Lead with your ambition, not your anxiety, by doing this.
Leading with anxiety comes in two tight and not-so-helpful packages. But here’s the solution.
Create symmetrical scenes to strengthen your story arc.
Jane Alison encourages us to envision our writing not as a tsunami of story, but instead as a series of smaller waves that propel your story arc forward.
Is an internal no affecting your writing life? Consider this.
A new moon, a new quarter, and a birthday offer you a chance to explore your goals. To choose the best ones, identify your internal yesses and noes.
Need a new character development technique? Consider the Big Five Personality Test.
When building our characters we sometimes hack away at attributes, hoping to unearth something that will engage readers. Instead, do this.
Lost your writing mojo? Here’s why your projects still matter.
Yesterday morning, I woke to an NPR story that made me wonder if I needed a bunker. I once wrote an essay about my childhood bunker dreams and how I’d used them to cope with both a scary home and world. I thought those days were behind me, but Russia’s attacked on Ukraine has reignited them. I had a completely …
Lost your writing mojo? Here’s why your projects still matter. Read More »