How much plotting and planning should you do before you begin to write a novel? The answer is a very individual one: It's a matter of getting to know your own process and deciding what’s right for you and the particular project you’re embarking on.
How to Outline Your Novel with the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet
Want to write a story that works? Learn how to plot your novel using the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet in this post! (Free worksheet included!) #writingtips
Writers need help building something beautiful, solid, and original—and that takes a method. The method I suggest has three concepts: Scene, Series, Theme.
As a writer, I began as a ‘pantser’. If the term isn’t familiar, its simply (and somewhat hilariously) refers to someone who writes by the seat of her pants. That’s how I do life, that’s how I started writing flash fiction and short stories, and I imagined that’s how I would write a novel. ...
Story Shapes: Four Ways To Think About Narrative Architecture
Story has shape. We’re often told it has a two-dimensional shape — a common rise (gentle or swift) of a hill, or a scalene triangle. But I call shenanigans on that. I say utter donkeytr…
If you devote some thought to how you’ll organize your writing, you’ll save time and frustration in the long run. Read on for tips on how to get your writing life organized so that you can finish that manuscript.
You wouldn’t start deadlifting or running a 10k or play football. You’d warm up first. You’d stretch. Do the same with your novel. Don’t start it just yet.
Why We Feel So Compelled to Make Maps of Fictional Worlds
In 1665, a German Jesuit and polymath named Athanasius Kircher published an eclectic scientific treatise called Mundus Subterraneus. It included, along with a natural history of dragons and a diagr…
There are lots of ways to write books. There are lots of ways to run games. I listen to a lot of actual play podcasts, well three, but it’s a lot of hours: Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, and Friends at the Table. All three of them provide such radically different models of how to run a game. To be clear, I enjoy all three of these shows very much and I think they’re all varying degrees of brilliant in different ways. That said, I’m going all in so, if you’re a huge critter or love those good good boys or just believe in interaction between good friends, then remember this is gentle crit...
How To Outline During National Plot Your Novel Month
(Disclaimer: NAPLO YONOMO is the protagonist of STAR WARS AFTERMATH TWO: EWOK SNUGGLEBOO. He’s a fancy gentleman Gonk Droid with a debilitating spice addiction!) Next month is National Novel …
