WRITING TIPS

Stakes are the lifeblood of every story. If there’s nothing at stake for the characters, there’s nothing at stake for the readers. If...

Think of three books. Odds are, at least one of them is part of a series. Book series give readers more of what they love, while letting...

Experimentation is the key to great writing, so it's important to sometimes step out of your comfort zone to give the reader more ways to...

Descriptions transport readers to another world or time. You may never have seen Camp Half-Blood or Ketterdam or Narnia (we’re pretending...

A little laughter goes a long way when your characters and readers are stressing about an impending war. Almost every genre can do with a...

While the beginning of a story sets up the world, people, and themes, the end wraps it all together. It’s either a reward or a punishment...

It’s really easy to put down a book after reading a few pages, but it becomes increasingly more difficult to do so as you go on. Once...

SPOILER ALERT: I talk about some famous plot twists below. Most spoilers are for very popular books, which I selected because I assume...

Almost every story can be traced back to some core plotline that can be found in other books of that type. Harry Potter is about the...

Research is one of those parts of the writing process that nobody thinks about. Nobody, that is, except writers. It’s so essential but...

A new month is just around the corner, and for writers, there’s something exceptionally special about this one. November is National...

The old mentor, the quest, the secret heir… These are all examples of common tropes in fantasy. If you’re an avid fantasy reader, you can...

If you’ve been a part of the writing community for any length of time, you’ve probably been told a million rules. Here’s the thing:...

Last week’s post focused on literary elements, the large aspects of a story that come together to form a novel. This week, we look at the...

Literary elements are the foundation of all stories. Plot, characters, setting, theme, and style define a novel. They are what readers...

At heart, books are defined by the decisions of their characters. That’s why it is essential that characters have a clear moral code....

Trying to understand the writing community can be challenging at first. There are so many abbreviations and terms that writers just throw...

Dialogue, description, action, and narrative—all fiction novels will have some of each, but most writers will use some more than others....

Dialogue is a wonderful tool: it can be used for characterization, worldbuilding, advancing the plot, and so much more. Here are some...

Relationship arcs make amazing subplots (or main plots, depending on your genre), especially when done well. First, be sure to take a...