So you’ve been working on your novel. You’ve got a cast of fascinating characters, kick-ass world building and plenty of action, but your plot still feels a little flat. If that sounds familiar, you probably need to build more tension. What is tension and why is it important? New authors often assume that the difference between a boring scene …
Read moreHow to Create Tension with Goals, Conflict & Stakes
It’s often said that you should avoid writing multiple characters whose names begin with the same letter. The idea is that names help the reader tell characters apart, and it’s easier to get two names starting with the same letter mixed up. As we learned in our recent discussion of show, don’t tell, it’s easy to take a rule …
Read moreCharacter Names Starting with the Same Letter – Is It OK?
When I first started writing fiction many years ago, I assumed it was all about being a good writer. If you could write well – that is, if you could translate ideas from your head onto the page in an engaging fashion – then I figured you were already most of the way there. It seems obvious in …