A strong female character makes decisions that move the plot, carries flaws a reader can recognize in a real person, and has a reason to exist that has nothing to do with the man standing next to her. What she actually needs is a stake in her own story, something...
For writers, writing contests are more than just a chance to win a prize—they’re powerful opportunities to gain recognition, improve your craft, and even kickstart a writing career. Whether you’re a seasoned storyteller or just starting out, entering contests can push your skills to the next level while opening doors...
They say not to judge a book by its cover, but let’s face it—everyone does. In a market overflowing with new releases, your book cover is your first and most powerful marketing tool. In fact, 79% of readers say a book’s cover influences their decision to buy it (The Book...
Audiobooks count as reading. Harvard researchers studying language and literacy have found that listening and reading recruit largely the same networks in the brain, and a widely cited 2016 comparison published in the Journal of Educational Psychology found no meaningful gap in comprehension between the two formats once people listen...
Have you ever reread something you wrote and thought, This doesn’t sound quite right? Maybe your message is buried under unnecessary words, or your sentence just feels awkward. You’re not alone! Writing is an art, and even skilled writers constantly refine their sentences to enhance clarity and engagement. Whether you’re...
The Dan Harmon Story Circle is an eight step framework for structuring a story: You, Need, Go, Search, Find, Take, Return, Change. Dan Harmon, the writer behind Community and Rick and Morty, built it by compressing Joseph Campbell’s seventeen stage Hero’s Journey into a shape simple enough to sketch on...
Books are way more than just a bunch of words strung together on a page: they’re a deftly woven experience that’s been crafted to grab your attention, open your eyes & leave you feeling inspired. From that very first nudge of interest that draws you in with the cover, right...
E.M. Forster once cleverly distinguished between a story and a plot by implying that a story is just stuff that happens, but a plot—now that’s the secret sauce that makes a story delicious. You may ask, “What is a plot?” or perhaps ponder, “What is a plot of a story?”...
Every writer knows that feeling all too well: you sit down, determined to write, the cursor on the page staring back at you like it’s daring you to put something worthwhile on the page. You’ve set time aside, the document is open, but the ideas just aren’t there yet, and...
There is a particular kind of silence that happens in front of a blank page. It isn’t the absence of ideas. It’s the presence of too many, all arriving at once, none of them agreeing to go first. Every writer knows this silence. The problem was never a lack of...
Writing exercises are short, structured prompts built to strengthen one specific skill through repetition, not to produce finished work. The value comes from the constraint. When you cannot rely on your usual habits, a normal length scene, your default point of view, your comfort with description, you find out fast...
Every writer hits this question at some point, usually with a deadline sitting a few hours away. A syllabus says 1000 words. A submission guideline says four pages. A word processor says something different than both. None of these numbers agree with each other, and the gap between them is...
