What five features does the perfect scene in a novel need?

Posted on 11/11/2020 at 02:18 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Fans of checklists, C.S. Lakin has a gift for you. She has a list of five essential components for every...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: C.S. Lakin / Live Write Thrive, Plot / narrative

Editor: These four weaknesses can kill your novel's momentum

Posted on 11/10/2020 at 10:15 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Congratulations — you’ve drawn your reader in with a stellar cover, an intriguing blurb, and a strong opener. Now don’t...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Jane Friedman, Plot / narrative

Make sure your story's premise is clear — and compelling

Posted on 11/02/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

How many times have you politely nodded at your conversational partner, wondering when she or he will get to the...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: C.S. Lakin / Live Write Thrive, Plot / narrative, Writing advice

See how 2 different memoir structures work

Posted on 10/15/2020 at 03:34 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Even if you’re not planning to write a memoir, you may enjoy a recent post from Allison K. Williams. The...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Jane Friedman, Memoir, Plot / narrative

Brush up on your paragraphing techniques

Posted on 10/13/2020 at 11:07 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Kathryn Craft wants to set the record straight on a paragraph’s structure and function in fiction. That is, don’t form...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Plot / narrative, Writing advice

Fix these five common plot problems in your story

Posted on 09/28/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

While writing or revising, you might sense that something is off in your novel — but being close to your...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Plot / narrative, Writing advice

How to keep your mystery's momentum going

Posted on 09/18/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Does your mystery feel saggy in the middle? Zara Altair says that’s common — and can be fixed or avoided....

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Mystery, Plot / narrative, Zara Altair

On writing a story with little to no conflict

Posted on 09/14/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

The Passive Voice blog recently shared a post from Writers Helping Writers on story structure when there’s little to no...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Plot / narrative, The Passive Voice

Zara Altair: Six keys to a successful scene

Posted on 06/27/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

If you’re like us, you’ve been doing much more cooking nowadays than six months ago. So, fittingly, we have a...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Plot / narrative, Writing advice, Zara Altair

5 tips for keeping your story lively instead of lazy

Posted on 05/26/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

With the temperature and humidity rising — and with the return to work, if you keep traditional business hours —...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Plot / narrative, Writing advice