How Balance Can Lead to Your Best Writing
Great craft skills are essential, but without this, your best writing will elude you.
Drafting and Revision Strategies
The Problem With Writing That’s Too Dark
Early drafts can contain writing that’s too dark. Here’s two Donald Masss’ strategies for addressing this.
Understand Your Life’s Midpoints to Improve Your Story
The midpoints in your life tell you who you are. Understand them and you’ll understand the story you’re trying to tell.
Wondering which writing voice is the most important one? Hint: It’s not the one in your head.
In her book Voice First, Sonya Huber talks about the three voice centers in your body and the one that will lead to your truest work.
Voice is a dance between its elements. But which one should take the lead?
We often think the voice in a piece of writing comes from the author. In Voice First Sonya Huber considers the other elements that can serve as a voice’s origins.
Feeling caged while trying to perfect your one “true” writing voice? Read Sonya Huber’s new book, Voice First.
As writers, we’re taught to whittle the many voices inside us into The One true writing voice we’ll always use. But what if that’s wrong?
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Want to build great characters? These four qualities are essential.
So much of character development is about the push and pull between what our characters want and their biggest flaws.
To create a strong opening, identify your SUCK.
Strong beginnings have common attributes that can be boiled down to one word–they all SUCK.
To crush your first draft, you’ll need these skills.
Baking a pie while blindfolded is a lot like writing a first draft. It’s messy, and even when you’re not sure what you’re doing, you must trust the process.
To write well, you must commit to multiple drafts. Allison K. William’s new book Seven Drafts will show you how to capitalize on each one.
For the past six months, I’ve told you and every writer I know to buy Allison’s new book Seven Drafts. Now you finally can.
All stories contain a certain architecture. To understand your story, learn how to “beat it out.”
In Save the Cat! Blake Snyder discusses the three-act structure and shares his invaluable beat sheet where he maps out the moments every story needs.