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?

Want to improve your reader engagement?

Looking to strengthen your scene writing?

Need some guidance on the nuances of narration?

Want to gain some perspective on the writing life?

Want to bone up on storytelling essentials?

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.