Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
Welcome to day one of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Cue the cheering! Heather and I are so excited to be participating again. Today we start the Write On Sisters 3, 2, 1 … BLASTOFF to Stellar Writing series with A for Antagonist. Much like space travel, writing the antagonist is venturing into the …
Continue reading “A is for Antagonist”
Two weeks ago I blogged about How to Create a Character Arc from Plot, followed my own advice, and came up with… multiple character arcs for my heroine. Yep. At least four or five, and I’m not sure which one is the right one for the story. What’s an I-have-too-many-ideas writer to do? Well, here …
Continue reading “Choosing the Right Character Arc”
Most writers understand the value of creating contrast in their stories and characters. We’ve all been told to write our characters with dissimilar looks, and to give our antagonist and protagonist different types of skills and flaws. But when a writer takes any story differences and sets them up in parallel for the purpose of …
Continue reading “3 Ways to Use Juxtaposition in Your Writing”
There are lots of things that make a story good. In fact, I’m constantly overwhelmed trying to keep track of them all. But what elevates most stories above the rest is a satisfying character arc. What is this? Well, at the most basic level it is a story where the character changes. If your character …
Continue reading “How to Create a Character Arc from Plot”
As some of you might know, the book I’m currently writing is a frame story – a story within another story. For this project, I wanted two parallel plotlines, but with one important change. In my project the two stories never converge, not even at the climax as a traditional duel plotline will. This is …
Continue reading “Tips for Writing Non-Converging Parallel Plotlines”
Last week I blogged about the Hook vs Plot Twist Conundrum and realized it would be a good exercise to take some books off my shelf and read the jackets to learn more about what makes a good hook. After perusing my collection of YA and MG novels, I decided all good hooks had these …
Continue reading “4 Components of a Good Hook”
Character mapping is a technique I use on every project I write. These simple flow charts keep track of all the interconnected relationships in my books and help me build more complexity into those relationships. I love including lots of secondary characters. Out of personal necessity, I developed a quick method for making character maps. …
Continue reading “6 Easy Steps to Great Character Mapping”
Last month I wrote about a story’s hook. And two weeks ago Robin wrote about reversals, the big and the small. For the purpose of this post, I’m talking about the big type of reversal – the plot twist! I’ll explain how I got twists and hooks mixed up and how to tell them apart. To refresh, a HOOK …
Continue reading “The Hook vs Plot Twist Conundrum”
Every writer wants to create prose packed with energy and vitality. They know dull, lifeless writing disappoints the reader. Tired sentences are often the cornerstone of bad prose. They disrupt the flow and bore the reader. Take these tests and find out if your sentences pass, or if you’re writing tired sentences. Same Sentence Starts: …
Continue reading “Tired Sentences? Put Your Prose To The Test”
One of the most important scenes in any book is the midpoint reversal. A reversal is an event that creates a fresh complication for the protagonist. It increases the stakes and sends the story off in a new direction. The reversal is the backbone of the classic three-act structure. If you don’t know what the …
Continue reading “4 Tips for Writing Reversals”