The right way to depict conflict in a love story

Posted on 02/12/2021 at 11:05 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Love stories certainly contain conflict — but, warns David Corbett, don’t mistake it for the kind you might find in,...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Plot / narrative, Romance, Writer Unboxed

Are your scenes the right shapes?

Posted on 02/10/2021 at 10:51 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

If you found a recent post about story shapes to be helpful or interesting, we have another variation on that...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Jane Friedman, Plot / narrative

Learn the seven basic story "shapes" in fiction

Posted on 02/05/2021 at 11:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Modern authors are always encouraged to learn from the classics, and this blog post is no exception — though it’s...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Jane Friedman, Plot / narrative

Reader time: It's about the quality, not quantity, of scenes

Posted on 02/03/2021 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Plenty of writing blogs offer advice and tips on proper pacing of your novel. Author Barbara Linn Probst has read...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Plot / narrative, Writer Unboxed

How to create conflict among your novel's cultures

Posted on 01/26/2021 at 11:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Territorial war is an obvious choice for conflict in your novel, whether it takes place in the real world or...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Fantasy, Plot / narrative, Science fiction, Writer's Digest

How to write a twist that will pleasantly surprise your readers

Posted on 01/17/2021 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

We can all agree that we’d prefer to leave earth-shattering developments to fiction rather than reality. And fortunately, that at...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Mystery, Plot / narrative, Writing advice

Editor: Try starting your story at the end

Posted on 12/31/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

It’s New Year’s Eve, a day of looking back at the year that was before celebrating the beginning of a...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: First lines and first chapters, Jane Friedman, Plot / narrative

C.S. Lakin: These two elements add up to a great scene

Posted on 12/21/2020 at 02:29 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

It may be Christmas break for most students, but C.S. Lakin has some assigned reading for authors who want to...

Categories: Behind the scenes

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

Best practices for using multiple first-person narrators

Posted on 12/14/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

The more the merrier? Sure, with a caveat when it comes to first-person narrators. Author Ken Brosky recently read a...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Jane Friedman, Plot / narrative

How to time your novel's chapter breaks

Posted on 12/10/2020 at 12:55 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

There’s a fine art to choosing where to end a chapter in your book. Wrap the scene up too tightly...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Plot / narrative, Writing advice