Insights into Your Inciting Incident
I want to take a look today at your inciting incident (since it’s one of the ten key scenes you…
Getting into the Layering Frame of Mind
Do you do this? Maybe you have an idea how your novel will start. You might also picture the climax…
Don’t Let Your Age Be a Reason to Not Write
Today’s guest post is by teen writer Enette Venter. If you are a teenager and you are writing, then chances…
How Layering Your Novel Brings Order out of Chaos
I’ve been writing novels and teaching novel structure for many years, but I’ve shied away from going into detailing what…
Practical Ways to Tackle Self-Doubt
Today’s guest post is by Cat Friesen: One of the biggest obstacles I’ve come across in my writing career is…
Why Layering Your Novel Is the Method for Success
Last year I spent some months talking about layering scenes. As time goes on, I see how few writers—especially aspiring…
Brilliant or Boring? How Do Your Characters Measure Up?
When critiquing manuscripts, I often wonder how much time writers spend thinking about the personality types of their characters. Because…
The Life of a Super-Productive Writer
In this broad and deep look at the Productivity ABCs—attitude, biology, and choices—we’ve considered many of the roadblocks that keep…
Why Your Protagonist Should Have a Past “Wound”
Last week I introduce the idea that writers need to know some important things about their protagonist before starting to…