You’ve written your heart out because you know you have a story to tell and you’re the only one to tell it—a story, a novel, a narrative, a memoir, an article, an essay, a letter. And then suddenly you stop. At first, it’s not quite clear that you’re in deep trouble. This happens all the… Read more »
Why both matter and how to get them on the page, from manuscript to query letter On weekend evenings, when the kids are finally asleep, my husband and I turn on the TV and scroll through the streaming platforms, searching for something to watch. We have a hard time agreeing on how to spend our… Read more »
Let us begin with the very basic question: “What is world building?” If you are going to write fiction, every story needs a place to call home, where the action happens, where your characters live. This can be extraordinarily complex (as in the case of fantasy world building), or as simple as “the story takes… Read more »
Stepping into someone else’s shoes is a defined part of both creating and reading fiction. One thing no one told me was that I would change so much as a writer once I had a kid. It makes sense: becoming a parent forces someone to become an entirely different role; it broadens life experience in… Read more »
Hi there, beautiful people on the Internet! It’s been a while since we’ve met on Wordly Wise. I have been curious how things are going for you with your WIP? For me, I have been tinkering away at my work-in-progress, and I have discovered a powerful secret to unlock my story’s full potential: character development. … Read more »
I am covered in sweat as I write this, with a heart rate around 150 beats per minute. I’m used to writing this way. In fact, I’ve come to prefer it to the keyboard, the notepad, or any other stock imagery you might find when you Google the word “writing.” This technique helps me write… Read more »
The Midpoint scene is arguably one of the most important scenes in a story. Some authors and craft writers like James Scott Bell even recommend that authors write their book from the middle. Others like Jessica Brody (Save the Cat! Writes a Novel…an absolute must in a writer’s toolkit and what this article will heavily… Read more »
As a writer, you have your own unique gifts and only you can do the work you’re meant to do, but you’re also part of a larger art form with a long history and an amazing community. Just as we study the work of the writers we admire, we can study the path they’ve taken… Read more »
Plot grids are by far my favorite method of outlining and I can’t write a book without using them. I’m a hardcore plotter. It’s impossible for me to finish a book without knowing where I’m going. I also write mysteries and thrillers, and books in this genre can become overwhelming if a writer doesn’t have… Read more »
First, a statement that is not a confession: I love romance. I always have. But I didn’t embrace it until relatively recently. There are several reasons for this, but suffice it to say that I’m an elder millennial and after a childhood in which the media told me that the best thing to be was… Read more »
