Escape the Plot Forest 2024
Now in it’s fifth year, writers’ summit Escape the Plot Forest 2024 begins October 19th. Improve your plotting and storytelling […]
Heroes of their own Stories
It’s easy to forget that your side characters are the heroes of their own stories; that they have their own
Escalating Stakes Stack the Odds
Book Three of my fantasy series features an impossible mission, while escalating stakes stack the odds against my protagonists. Over
Characters Outside their Fictional World
–If you take your characters outside their fictional world, do they still function as compelling, relatable characters? Drop them into
Restoring a Deleted Scene
Editing is a strange process, especially when you find yourself restoring a deleted scene. Listen to the audio version on
Hidden from the Reader’s View
A vital consideration in plotting your story: what is hidden from the reader’s view? Author and coach Susan deFreitas posed
Science Fiction Writers’ Week 2024
ProWritingAid’s Science Fiction Writers’ Week 2024 runs September 9-13 for aspiring sci-fi authors everywhere.
Make Inciting Incidents Happen Sooner
Forget the old ‘rules:’ make inciting incidents happen sooner. The same conclusion I reached over a year ago came from
The Badly-Plotted Deus Ex
How many stories fall into the badly-plotted Deus Ex Machina ending? A miraculous resolution to a seemingly doom-laden ending, the
How to Escalate a Series
It’s a common writing challenge: how to escalate a series. How do you create a bigger ‘bang’ for books two,