Second Act Pinch Points
From Act One ingenue to Act Three veteran, your second act pinch points are the key. Character arcs simply don’t […]
Writing
Posts on the craft of writing
Writing Setting as Character
Inspired by Sanderson’s World Building class, we bring you writing Setting as Character. There are certain books where the setting
Calculating the MICE Quotient
Mary Robinette’s ingenious short story technique raised a reader question about calculating the MICE Quotient. Listen to the audio version
The Art of the Book Blurb
Uncovering the art of the book ‘blurb’; that short text on the back cover and in the book summary that
Write What You Know?
A common piece of writing advice is ‘write what you know.’ But what I know, I don’t want to write
Sisterhood as Theme Over Plot
Revising my novella, I discovered I’m writing about sisterhood as theme over plot. Who knew? Not me, it began as
The Revelation of Misbelief
Book One stalled for a while because I didn’t know how to handle the revelation of misbelief. In my defense,
Exceeding the MICE Quotient
My novella hit problems a while back, entirely from exceeding the MICE quotient. I tried to pack too much into
The Proactivity Scale
A key question in fiction: where does your protagonist sit on the proactivity scale? Do they pursue goals beyond the
Avoiding the Idiot Plot
Avoiding the Idiot Plot: in which characters behave like idiots. Logic and good sense go AWOL. Along with the reader’s