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If your scenes look too similar… try the Tarzan Test
It’s one of the nastiest problems in writing, because it can pop up either because we’re struggling or because we’re getting in the groove: we keep using another of the same kind of scene. Hero and...
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Writing Travel Scenes: What to Keep Moving
Do you ever notice how often “the hero’s journey” isn’t just a metaphor? Travel’s a huge part of many stories, sometimes long days or weeks on the road, sometimes brief hops that still get wedged so...
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Dialog, Plot, and a bit of Spock — Layers brought to life
Dialogue might be the most powerful tool a writer has. It’s absolutely the easiest one to lead in any direction you want, and yet… Just by keeping track of what pieces the story’s built from and what...
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Quiet Scene or Boring Scene? What can make the difference
We call them “character moments” or “pacing breaks” when we write them, or “boring scenes” when somebody else tries and fails. We know the story isn’t complete if it’s all twists and suspense, but...
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Writing for Five Senses – Combining Them All
Share/BookmarkCan you write a description with just sight and hearing? No, but those two can organize how all five senses fit together. Last week I wrote about the classic advice to “describe all five...
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How All Writing is Suspense
Share/BookmarkWhy is my writing all about suspense? I think a better question is, is there any story that isn’t really about building uncertainty, making the reader wonder about what comes next, making...
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Worth Fighting For – choosing stakes for characters
Share/BookmarkWhen I’m first putting my sense of a story together, there’s one question that can turn the different pieces into a whole, sometimes faster than any other choice I make. And that is: what...
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The Plot-Device Machine – Movement
Share/BookmarkI’m about to share with you my all-purpose tool for the all-purpose question that my characters (and I’d bet yours) are constantly asking. That question is, “How do I get out of this...
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The Plot-Device Machine – Knowledge
Share/Bookmark“You can run but you can’t hide.” It’s simple truth, that getting distance from a problem may be no match for how “Knowledge is power.” And that’s only one side to how “who knows what”...
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The Plot-Device Machine – Strength
Welcome to the whole story… or at least a chance to step back from looking at single aspects of writing, like the last two Plot-Device posts did. Now that we’ve explored how characters’ movement and...
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The Plot-Device Machine – Motive
A story is its people. We all know that, and that’s why Motive is different from the other Plot Device points. We’ve seen how Movement and especially Knowledge can organize the plot around the...
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Deals, Decoys, and Dirty Tricks for your Characters
Your hero’s trapped by his enemies, no way to run or fight—unless he can take what those goons really want and use it against them. Your villain needs to slip past the police lines to work his sinister...
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The Prologue Checklist
“What’s past is prologue.” –William Shakespeare, The Tempest It’s only natural—you’ve got a powerful story to write, so you open with a prologue. It’s your chance to show off a clever idea, it...
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Does your villain need more evil?
Is your story good enough? In fact… you’ve probably been exploring and sweating to make your protagonist more real, more dynamic, and the supporting cast just as compelling as you need. But, could it...
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How to be a Writer (a modest theory)
Do I really want to be a writer? (The Unified Writing Field Theory — searchings and findings on what makes stories work) Everyone who ever glanced at a pen must have asked that, and many of us keep...
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The Two Laws of Backstory (and why Superman breaks both)
It’s one of the hardest moments in writing—knowing that even though you’ve picked a perfect character or an ideal plot complication, you have to write in so much more to justify it. But with so many...
View ArticleWorth Fighting For – choosing stakes for characters
When I’m first putting my sense of a story together, there’s one question that can turn the different pieces into a whole, sometimes faster than any other choice I make. And that is: what does a...
View ArticleThe Plot-Device Machine – Movement
I’m about to share with you my all-purpose tool for the all-purpose question that my characters (and I’d bet yours) are constantly asking. That question is, “How do I get out of this one?” (The Unified...
View ArticleThe Plot-Device Machine – Knowledge
“You can run but you can’t hide.” It’s simple truth, that getting distance from a problem may be no match for how “Knowledge is power.” And that’s only one side to how “who knows what” defines the...
View ArticleThe Plot-Device Machine – Strength
Welcome to the whole story… or at least a chance to step back from looking at single aspects of writing, like the last two Plot-Device posts did. Now that we’ve explored how characters’ movement and...
View Article