Earning story events (May AuthorToolBox)
Earning story events means paying attention to three types of context (deep, situational, and immediate) as well as giving the character time to arrive at a response.
Your Writing Needs to Be Better Than Game of Thrones
The writing for the TV series has been in a steep downhill descent for a while, and the 3rd episode of Season 8, which needed to pay off a years-long plot arc, utterly failed to create a cohesive narrative.
Theme Is Not Optional
Some people are wary of crafting or discussing theme, but theme exists in all (good) stories. Here, we examine what theme is, how a story employs it, the effect on readers, and how writers can be intentional about theme.
Readers to Help You Write Your Book
Every great writer relies on great readers. Who should you enlist to read your work as it’s in development? Lovers, critics, alphas, betas, pros, and more.
How to Create Compelling Story Action
Action is important for stories, but not all action moves characters. Here, we discuss three requirements for action in your stories using a questionable football analogy.
To Filter or Not to Filter
What is filtering, what’s the rationale for avoiding it, and in what situations might you want to stick with it?
Welcome!
The articles above are just the most recent. You can browse all the articles here. Or look at the index below.
If you’re new here, check out the About page and read the Mission, which, in a nutshell, is to help storytelling artists learn craft and hone their instincts to become the best storytellers they can be.
Articles/Resources
You can peruse the categories or the index of articles in the sidebar menu. Or you can look below for some suggestions of where to start.
Having trouble with structure?
- Novel Structure: An Aggregate Paradigm
- A Compendium of Novel Structure Resources
- Escalating Complications
- Why the Hero’s Journey Might Not Be Right for Your Story
- The Two Roles of the Story Beginning
- How to Create a Moving Character Arc
- Use Beats to Move Characters within Scenes
Want to improve your reader engagement?
- Stretch Tension to Maximize Suspense
- The Key to Reader Engagement
- How to Create Story Momentum
- Story Momentum Mastery Course
- 3 Techniques for Creating Tension
- The Tension Lab Course
- Creating Romantic/Sexual Tension Course
- Escalating Complications
- The Problem with Show, Don’t Tell: Hyperdetailing
- Urgent Story Questions
- Conflict ≠ Tension
- Subjective Conflict (within readers)
- How to Write Compelling Action
- Theme is Not Optional
Looking to strengthen your scene writing?
- Triangulate Dialogue
- 4 Common Failures in Story Cause/Effect
- Stretch Tension to Maximize Suspense
- Should You Use Synonyms for Said?
- Formatting Character Thoughts
- Scene vs. Summary
- 12 Ways to Be an Invisible Writer
- Sentiment vs. Sentimentality
- The Gold Standard Scene Course (free)
- The Tension Lab Course
- Creating Romantic/Sexual Tension Course
- Use Beats to Move Characters within Scenes
- The Problem with Show, Don’t Tell: Hyperdetailing
- Psychic Distance: Narrative Distance from Character
- The Pitfalls of Emotional Body Language
- Subjective Conflict (within readers)
- How to Write Realizations, Epiphanies, and Moments of Clarity
- Using Objects to Create More Powerful Stories
- How to Write Compelling Action
Need some guidance on the nuances of narration?
- 10 Lessons from “Cat Person” on Character Interiority
- Author, Narrator, Character
- Action vs. Information: Convey Info without Stalling the Story
- Juggle External Action and Interiority
- Scene vs. Summary
- Time Digression in Narration
- Page-level Storytelling: Four Ways to Break Down Your Narration
- The True Source of Voice
- The Problem with Show, Don’t Tell: Hyperdetailing
- Psychic Distance: Narrative Distance from Character
- 5 Ways to Express Emotion
- How to Write Realizations, Epiphanies, and Moments of Clarity
- To Filter or Not to Filter
Want to gain some perspective on the writing life?
- Story Grammar: Distinguish between Descriptive and Prescriptive Story Advice
- Story Consumption: How to Read like a Writer
- Approaching the Workshop
- Dealing with Rejection and Criticism
- Revision for Haters
- Finding Readers to Help You
Want to bone up on storytelling essentials?
- Two Conflicts: Problems vs. Obstacles
- Author, Narrator, Character
- Why You Need Strong Antagonists in Your Story
- Common Problems in Manuscripts
- The Key to Reader Engagement
- The True Source of Strong Voice
- 3 Techniques for Creating Tension
- 4 Common Failures in Story Cause/Effect
- The 5 Key Elements of Story Course (free)
- Scene vs. Summary
- 12 Ways to Be an Invisible Writer
- Character Arcs
- Beats within Scenes
- Urgent Story Questions
- Conflict ≠ Tension
- Using Objects to Create More Powerful Stories
- How to Write Compelling Action
- Theme is Not Optional
I Can Help
My courses dive deeper into topics covered in my articles. Take a look at them and check back often as I’m constantly working on others.
Reading about writing craft can get overwhelming. At some point, you just need to 1) write, and 2) get someone to coach you. Writing is just one of those things that is best learned via apprenticeship or close mentoring. Look at my coaching and/or editing.