Writing

Posts on the craft of writing

Pretty Woman Hates its Protagonist

Time and again this movie comes up as a ‘classic’ romance, but Pretty Woman hates its protagonist. Twice this week […]

Mastery of plot structure isn’t about a single thread, more like three plots make one story. So says writer and

According to our favourite writing coach, novels obsess over the past. At his most recent writers’ summit, Daniel David Wallace

Every story needs an antagonist, but can you have villainy without melodrama and tantrums? Listen to the audio version on

Engaging stories come out of the choices characters make. Or as Sue Brown Moore advocates, never stop asking ‘why?’ Listen

What really makes a story is the interplay between internal versus external plot. I upset some folks when I say

The next round of editing, and I encounter the return of the Crutch Words. All of those verbal ticks, habits

I rediscovered the ScriptShark Critique Sheet from 2009. It’s another useful tool by which to evaluate your manuscript. Listen to

Our writers’ group challenge for November was First Five Words: come up with the opening line of a novel in

A revelation about my fantasy series: I’m the author as translator. Put another way, my characters don’t speak English… Listen