Common POV Violations and How to Catch Them
Nailing proper use of POV (point of view) is a challenge for many fiction writers. It seems easy, right? Whoever has the point of view in a scene is telling and showing the events unfolding. You can...
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A Deep Look at Deep Editing
What makes the difference between a good novel and a great one? Simple: the editing. Seasoned fiction writers know that in order to reach a pinnacle of excellence with their writing, they have to be...
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How to Use Setting to Reveal Character
All of us are impacted by setting. Every place we’ve been has made an imprint on us in some way, whether small or significant.In fiction, we want our characters’ past and personality to be gradually...
View ArticleThe 2 Elements You Need to Catch Readers in Your Net
Our goal as writers is to get readers to go on an emotional journey. Readers read to care, to feel, to experience. We need to ask: How can I get readers to go on this journey as played out in my story,...
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7 Tips to Avoid Overwriting
Repetition. Redundancy. Useless words.All fiction writers fall into the trap of overwriting. We’re lured by the desire to be clear and thorough in our descriptions. To make sure the reader gets what...
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Starting Your Scenes with a Bang!
Openings are a science unto themselves, be they openings for an entire book, for a chapter, or for a scene. One principle, however, is generally agreed upon: it is best to open with something...
View Article5 Ways to Strengthen Weak Writing
Every writer has to work on strengthening the construction of their sentences and paragraphs. No one’s writing is perfect, but with effort any writer can improve. There are always aspects to our...
View ArticleBackstory Tips and Tricks
You’ve spent hours, maybe months, developing a rich background for each of your characters and the world they inhabit. As the creator of your story, you are omniscient. You know why your characters...
View ArticleBalancing “Showing” with “Telling” in Fiction
It’s the golden rule of fiction: show, don’t tell. But it’s easier said than done. Show too much, and you’ll bore even yourself. Show the wrong details, or show ineffectively, and you may find that...
View ArticlePacing Tips for Fiction
Strong pacing is critical in a fictional story, but it’s one of the hardest elements to understand and master. That’s because there isn’t one “right” way to pace a story, nor is there one definable...
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The Narrative Significance of Place
Guest post by Mariia Kukkakorpi.Have you ever considered how places influence storytelling, shape the atmosphere, or evoke the reader’s emotions? A setting can reveal more about the characters than the...
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How to Turn Good Dialogue into Great Dialogue
We fiction writers want to write terrific dialogue. After all, dialogue is the “make or break” element in a story. Writing it well can mean the difference between a manuscript’s being published and...
View ArticleTips to Turn Sketchy Writing into Robust Prose
Writers are hounded with the admonition to “show, don’t tell,” which is not easily done well. Showing requires learning masterful technique that can make readers feel as though they are in the story,...
View ArticleWatch Out for Pesky Adverbs and “Weasel Words”
If you’ve been writing fiction for a while, you’ve probably heard editors or other writers insist that adverbs and overused words (and actions) weaken writing. That advice may be followed by the famous...
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