• Most popular point of view types in storiesAmong the most important decisions a fiction writer can make is what point of view to use in a story. Point of view determines what aspects of a st…

• Constructing your story’s main character• How to create a character’s background• Build character by looking at his values• Show rather than tell a character’s personality• Ways to sh…

As a storyteller, you want to draw readers into your tale so that they vicariously live out the action. One way to achieve that is by providing evocative descriptions of the setting or action.…

Sometimes writers sabotage their own stories by ensuring every sentence is grammatically correct, as if they were turning it in to their middle school English teacher. Read through many of the…

I visited the peat bog just before dawn, when the morning fog was still heavy, hovering over the carpet of peat like a damp blanket. Earlier that morning, I’d noticed peat dried and nailed to the wind...

• Most popular point of view types in storiesAmong the most important decisions a fiction writer can make is what point of view to use in a story. Point of view determines what aspects of a st…

Ever read a story before bed and find it so gripping that you stay up far later than you should just to find out what is going to happen? If so, you’ve been a “victim” of narrative drive.Narra…

Telling a story requires taking your protagonist through a series of stages in which he resolves the central problem that set the tale in motion. Here’s a set of articles about those stages:• …

• Shoo the rhinoceros out of your the room• Delete authorisms• Crack a joke – but only for a good reasonUnfortunately, a lot of novice writers don’t quite know when to inject humor into their ficti…

• What is point of view in a story? Every story has an angle or perspective from which it is told. This perspective is called point of view.• Heighten tension with consistent point of view Selectin…

Virtually infinite ways exist to show a character’s personality, but all should follow one simple, guiding principle: It must reveal and be grounded in the character’s motivations, that is, wh…

Good stories center on the clashing of characters’ goals and motivations. Sometimes a character’s goals and motivations arise from overcoming suppression. Here are four writing prompts for sto…

If you want to be a published writer, you’ll need to write regularly. After all, you can’t publish a novel, a short story or a how-to book if you haven’t finished it.That’s easier said than do…

• Follow a “process” when writing your story• The “thinking step” when writing your book• Drafting: Write on paper or type on computer? • Draft rare…

When formatting your ebook, photos are a must if you’ve written nonfiction. Pictures, maps and illustrations can add value to your book in a number of ways and unlike a paper book, won’t drive…

Unlock the secrets to captivating storytelling with tips on openings, point of view, and engaging readers from the first page.

A major division of a story is a scene, in which a dramatic action occurs, usually involving the same characters at a single locale. Stories typically consist of several scenes, all of which corres…

Suffering from writer’s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine. To that end, try this tip: Place a person you know in …

Many writers have unfinished novels and short stories sitting on their hard drives or as printouts in a desk drawer. Often coming up with a story idea isn’t a problem, but finding the time or …

As a novelist or short story writer, among your chief goals is to establish and maintain a fictional dream, which occurs when readers actually feel like they are experiencing what is being rea…

Good stories center on the clashing of characters’ goals and motivations. Sometimes a character’s goals and motivations arise when someone who is innocent must prove so. Here are four writing …

Writing is textual painting in which the elements of fiction – plot, characters, setting, point of view, theme, and style – are arranged to create a piece of art. Because of this, some work by hack…

One good way to come up with plot ideas is to journal about your personal problem.While journaling about an issue is a worthy writing exercise simply for catharsis, modifying how you journal l…

• Don’t leave reader in fog with vague descriptions• Use concrete details• Examples of “concrete details”• Use sensory details rather than internalized ones• Appeal to sense of so…

To make a story more compelling, consider structuring it around an internal flaw in the main character. An internal flaw is some personal trait that makes a character less than perfect – perha…

The very act of writing is a testament that anything is possible.Writing brings reality to what we cannot now do: the technology to travel to other solar systems; use of magical potions to imm…

You dream of being a published author. Achieving that dream necessitates, of course, that you first have a novel, a short story, or a nonfiction book that can be published.Forget about editing, for…

When creating your story’s setting or explaining what your characters are doing, you’ll need to use imagery. Imagery is necessary to move along the plot and to create tone. You even can c…

Typically when a story starts, there is an out-of-whack event, an upsetting of the status quo that the main character must deal with. How the main character addresses this event forms the bulk…

No part of your story exists in isolation. They are merely a component of a greater whole; just as walls and a roof disconnected from its foundation would collapse, so also will your story if each …

During the process of writing your novel or nonfiction book, you’ll probably spend a lot of time revising the manuscript. Catching every error in one reading is unlikely, but you can reduce th…

Since the beginning of recorded history, people used stories to make sense of all that is. Ancient myths and epics often “explained” how something in nature originated or how to handle moral dilemm…

Good stories center on the clashing of characters’ goals and motivations. Sometimes a character’s goals and motivations arise from seeking a life that is grander or purposeful. Here are four w…

Too many details in the text surrounding dialogue can distract readers from what the characters say. This common dialogue mistake may seem to have less to with what is spoken than the words ar…

Suffering from writer’s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine. To that end, try this tip: Should you find your story …

What are your individual intentions? That is, what do you most deeply hope to accomplish in life? To live true to your values? To be at peace with the person you are? To inspire others to find sere…

One way for an author to slow a story is to employ “countersinking.” A term coined by science fiction writer Lewis Shiner, countersinking involves making explicit the very actions that the story im…

Suffering from writer’s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine. To that end, try this tip: Many writers use journaling…

Suffering from writer’s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine. To that end, try this tip: If undergoing a period of person…

Successfully building a character in a story almost always is the one challenge a writer absolutely must get right. It’s also often the most difficult challenge facing any writer.To create a c…

One powerful way to write a novel is episodically. Called episodic fiction, it breaks from the traditional introduction-rising action-climax story structure by presenting an anthology of brief stor…

Modeling the stories (or chapters) of a favorite author forces you to think about how a story is structured and the characters developed, making writing of your own stories easier later on. Select …

An old but apt writing adage goes “Start your story in the middle.” That is, rather than give background information about how the story’s main conflict came to be, instead start it by droppin…

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