I, personally, am trash for tropes and believe they make the world of fiction go ’round. But love ’em or hate ’em, there’s something about holiday tropes that hit a little extra. This article is dubbed “holiday” as it centers on the tropes we often see in rom-coms around the winter holidays. But I willContinue reading “15 Holiday Tropes + More”
Tag Archives: Novel Writing
Add Tension and Build Suspense with Try/Fail Cycles
In the first imaginings of our stories, we often have an end goal in mind. Character X is put into situation Y and comes out changed (whether that’s for better or for worse depends on whether it’s a positive or negative character arc). Our story would be rather short if the goal you set forContinue reading “Add Tension and Build Suspense with Try/Fail Cycles”
10 Reasons Why Writing a Novel is Like Running a Marathon
Happy November! This means we are just kicking off National Novel Writing Month. If somehow you’re unfamiliar despite my preptober posts last month, it is when insane people, myself included, participate in this annual event to write a novel (50,0000 words) in one month. It’s truly a test of endurance and motivation. In tandem withContinue reading “10 Reasons Why Writing a Novel is Like Running a Marathon”
Tips for Adding Humor Part 2: Types of Humor
A couple weeks ago I wrote up an article with plenty of insights about injecting humor into your narrative. One of those insights happened to be identifying types of humor that you find funny. Since there are a number of different types of humor, I decided to make your life easier and condense them intoContinue reading “Tips for Adding Humor Part 2: Types of Humor”
Creating A Book Bible: With Guest Author Megan Beth Davies
This week, I have guest author, Megan Beth Davies, to talk about one super helpful writing resource…a writing resource that’s so personalized to your story, it’s like you’ve created it yourself…because, well, you did. Megan is a fantasy writer like myself, which naturally comes with a ton of planning (and some organization required). From worldContinue reading “Creating A Book Bible: With Guest Author Megan Beth Davies”
10 Writing tips to Evoke Emotion
How to write prose that tugs at the reader’s heart strings When writing fiction, there’s a good chance that you’re hoping to get the reader to feel something: happy, sad, fearful, panicked, lustful (or, if you’re like me, all of the above). Personally, I get a weird twinge of satisfaction when someone tells me myContinue reading “10 Writing tips to Evoke Emotion”
Writing A Series: With Guest Author Skye Horn
As we approach the New Year, many of us set ourselves up by establishing goals. On nearly every resolution list for the past few years, I’ve set a goal to write a book. But once you have written one book, you might realize it has “series potential” or you might decide off the bat thatContinue reading “Writing A Series: With Guest Author Skye Horn”
How to use Motivation-Reaction Units to Enhance Your Storytelling
I recently did a whole post about scene-sequel story structure. While the concept of a scene followed by its sequel is the large-scale structure (or the building blocks) of a story, Motivation-Reaction Units (or MRUs for short) are the minuscule pieces that create those blocks. The idea of Motivation-Reaction Units was first found inContinue reading “How to use Motivation-Reaction Units to Enhance Your Storytelling”
Beta Reading Guide: How to Get the Most from Beta Readers
Why is feedback so important? This question could be its own blog post… but receiving feedback is one of the best ways for writers to grow their writing prowess, improve their craft, and polish their stories. Sharing your work can be nerve wracking and may leave you feeling vulnerable, but like many things that seemContinue reading “Beta Reading Guide: How to Get the Most from Beta Readers”
10 Tips to Bolster Your Baddie
How do you create a compelling villain? Queue my maniacal laugh! Call them what you want (villains, antagonists, rivals, or bad guys) but readers love a good baddie. In many ways the villain is nearly as important as the hero. It should go without saying that the villain should be as well developed as theContinue reading “10 Tips to Bolster Your Baddie”
Newbie to Novelist 