Category: Creative Writing
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50 Questions To Ask Your Character
To write a character well you’ll need to know everything that there is to know about said character, even before you start writing your first scene. Alongside your character’s general physical description, you’ll need to know their beliefs, values, desires, secrets, psychological state, personal relationships, etc.
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Writing Act Three: 6 Tips to Leave Readers Feeling Satisfied
According to David Morrell, “the (story) end is even more important than the first page, and rushing can damage it.” Many great novels are remembered for their first sentences or first paragraph, but what is equally important—if not more so—is how you end your novel.
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How to Write Act Two of Your Story: 6 Tips to Keep Readers Interested
Act two (or the middle) is the largest section of your novel. This section of your story is dedicated to a diverse collection of scenes. These scenes increase the suspense and the stakes in your novel. Act two is where readers will see obstacles being thrown at your lead character, continually.
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Character Tropes: What Are They and How Can You Use Them Effectively
Character tropes are popular patterns used in storytelling to create and develop characters that are restricted by culture and time. Character tropes follow a specific predictable pattern, which is so familiar that it often reduces the level of suspense in a story or gives readers exactly what they are looking for.
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5 Essential Elements of a Good Plot
A story is a sequence of events. However, a plot is a sequence of events coupled with a character’s motivation. Therefore, a man dies then his wife dies is a story, while a man dies then his wife dies of grief is a plot.
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4 Types of Points of View in Stories
The point of view(POV) of a story is the way that it is told. Whose eyes you see the action from, whose head you are inside of, and whose feelings you are experiencing? Deciding which POV to tell your story from is one of the more important decisions you will have to make as an…
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How to Write Act One of Your Novel: 7 Essential Characteristics
Get your readers to act two by using these seven essential characteristics in act one of your novels. Act one generally refers to the first 20% to 30% of your novel. Though the length of act one varies from one novel to the next, the central goal remains the same: persuade the reader to go…
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6 Ways to Show and Not Tell in Your Stories
“Show, don’t tell” is a foundational principle in creative writing that encourages authors to provide readers with enough vivid details for them to arrive at their conclusion. The most ideal approach to achieve showing in fiction is through the experiences of your character.
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How to Write Powerful Dialogue
In creative writing, dialogue is a form of communication that is used to drive a plot, show character, or even tell the reader something they need to know. Dialogue involves two or more characters and is an important aspect of your story.
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6 Ways to Create Complex Characters
Complex characters are the driving force behind your plot. According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Character is plot, plot is character.” Therefore, if your readers are unable to empathize with or even care about your characters, then they will not care about what happens to them.
