Everyone knows your story needs to take place somewhere, right? Your characters can’t just float in a vacuum, and being so vague about your setting that your readers can’t even begin to imagine it would be a pretty bad idea. But how, exactly, do you describe places in your writing? How to describe a location […]
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How do you write about a thick, dark forest if you’ve never been in a thick, dark forest? About London if you’ve never been to London? In this post, we’re going to talk about how to write about places you’ve never been in, and how to make those places feel real instead of embarrassing yourself with
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Creating conflict in your story is no small task, but you probably shouldn’t pull it out of your hat without thinking what actually belongs in your story. In this post, we’re going to talk about what conflict is and how you can insert it into your story without making your readers go “So what?” Learning
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Character profile templates and information sheets are popular, but are they actually helpful? Should you use them when writing your novel? In this post, I’m going to talk about the pros and cons of using these writer tools and about where you can find good ones. The context for all of my posts is that
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Though spring is a fine season for outdoors adventures, you don’t have to abandon your writing completely. If you want to keep writing, improve your skills and make progress, try these spring activities for writers to stay consistent and enjoy writing your stories. Related reading: How to use seasons in your writing – Summer story
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Being a writer is not always fun and easy, and you might not always have a group of bookish cheerleaders encouraging you to keep going. What you could have, though, is affirmations for writers, and that’s exactly what you’re getting in this post. You’re welcome. Because I’m here to help and not just to cheer
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I’m sure you’ve been there before: You read your writing… and you cringe. You want to hide. You consider quitting writing completely. Stop right there! I’m here to fix that problem for you. So if you’ve ever cringed at your own writing and would prefer to be able to read your first draft without dying
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We can’t typically choose how inspiration finds us. Sometimes we’ve got a great plot idea and sometimes all we get to start with is a character or perhaps some kind of a vague vibe. Since I’ve already talked about turning those vibes into a plot, in this post, you’ll find out how to give your
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You kind of want to write, but… you’re just not feeling it. How do you get enough writing motivation so that you could actually start AND finish your writing projects? Let’s talk about that! I know there are many kinds of writers in the world, but this post talks specifically about having the motivation to
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Plotting is my favourite subject to talk about, and although I could talk about any part of great writing for hours, I’d say that learning how to plot a story and how to outline a novel are the most important skills for any novel writer. They’re also something they’re not exactly teaching in schools when
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