Using the Manuscript Wish List to Find a Literary Agent How to Include a Ghost in Your Fiction Writing How to Write About a Winery for a Fiction Story How to Write a Curse or Prophecy in Your Fiction Writing
If you’re an Outliner, you prefer to map out everything before you start writing your novel. You want to know your characters and what happens to them frombeginning to end. If you’re a Pantser, meaning you write by the seat of your pants, you begin with the germ of an idea and ...
Are they a protagonist, antagonist, or a supporting character? 🌀 Changes and Growth How do they change over the course of the story? What events influence their growth? 📜 Backstory What is their history? How does their past shape their present actions and personality? How to Write a ...
they’ll interact with many others, from enemies to friends, who’ll bring out the worst or best in our protagonists, so these side characters must have somecomplexity and developmentas well. As such, to write a good series, you should remember the following tips when it comes to the char...
Write scenes with purpose using the 5 w's Find satisfying ways to begin and end scenesUnderstand what scenes in stories doIn a story, scenes:Move the story forward: They keep us engaged, asking ‘what happens next?’ Establish cause and effect: This links to the first point. For example...
10. A twist of fate Random chance ushers in a sudden reversal of fortune, usually from good to bad. The main character either gains or loses wealth, status, loved ones, or long-held beliefs. It’s crucial to make such a twist believable. (See #3 under How to Write Plot Twists That...
Because the term “Beginning” invites me to write lots of backstory and world building, stuff that isn't very interesting to my reader yet. We need to entice our reader with an important first plot point, like a “save the cat” scene that grabs their interest and refuses to let go. ...
If you want to write a good, satisfying ending, then you need to think about what surprises you can weave in. 5. Meet your readers’ expectations (or subvert them masterfully) Some writers consider there to be a ‘contract’ with the reader, meaning that when they buy a book, the write...
A good villain provides the story withtension, keeping readers interested in what happens next. But to do that, the villain must be threatening. Unfortunately, when writers begin creating villains, they usuallyfollow all of the worst exampleswe have. Instead of providing the hero with adequate ro...
the murders, or it could have been a good murder story. But the two of them together was kind of a letdown. It felt like it went in 2 different story lines that would randomly merge together with no real reason. I did not hate the story, it just did not live up to my ...