by Ali | Aug 12, 2019 | Fiction, Writing
For the next four weeks, we’re going to be look at “Developing Better Plots”. We’ll be covering what plot is (and isn’t), how to create a better plot, how to fix a plot that’s gone wrong, and more. Make sure you join the newsletter so you don’t miss out on any...
by Ali | Jul 15, 2019 | Fiction
It’s a familiar situation for most novelists: you get a few chapters in (or if you’re unlucky, a few pages) … and for one reason or another, you find yourself stuck. Maybe your initial enthusiasm for the project didn’t last. Maybe you had the first few chapters...
by Ali | Apr 29, 2019 | Fiction
You’ve probably come across the idea of a “character arc” before now … but what is it, and why’s it called that? A character arc isn’t the same thing as your plot. It’s the progression of your character as a person throughout your story. You might also think of...
by Ali | Apr 22, 2019 | Fiction
Most writers love creating characters and writing about them – but it can be a struggle to get characters right. If you’re normally quite plot-focused, you might find yourself creating characters who are lifeless “pegs” that fit into the right-shaped spaces in your...
by Ali | Apr 16, 2019 | Fiction
This post was first published in August 2015, and updated in April 2019. Kudos to LycoRogue for inspiring it. Do you have a hard time hurting your characters? Maybe it’s pretty easy with some of them. (For me, villains are fair game, and Woobies seem to invite a fair...
by Ali | Apr 9, 2019 | Fiction
Whether you consider plot to be more important than character or you believe they’re just two sides of the same coin, it’s clear that character matters. Readers want characters who are engaging and interesting: characters who seem real. Novelists often talk about...
