Building Emotional Stakes: Why Your Story Needs More Than Just Explosions
Emotional stakes are what lead up to those gut-punch moments in a story that make readers care about what’s going on. If you’re new to writing or stuck on a draft that’s just not clicking, this is where you can fix it. Stakes aren’t just about someone getting chased by a bear. They’re about what’s […]
Layering Conflict to Bring Your Draft to Life
A lot of new writers (and even some who’ve been at it a while) get stuck with a half-finished manuscript because their stories lack the magnetic pull that keeps readers flipping pages late into the night. Their characters are going nowhere, or their plot feels stuck in the mud. The fix isn’t anything new or […]
Time Jumps Made Easy: How to Write Nonlinear Narratives That Flow
If you’ve ever read a book with a nonlinear narrative, you either loved it or you hated it. And if you loved it, chances are you’ve been entertaining the thought of doing the same in one of your own projects, but have been waiting for the right one. Nonlinear narratives are great for exploring themes, […]
The 27 Chapter Blueprint: Exploring a Method to Novel Writing
Kat O’Keefe’s 9 Blocks, 27 Chapter Method gives writers a strategic framework to build their novel around. Using the basis of Three Act Structure, the method uses the power of three to divide each act into three blocks, and each block into three beats. These beats can each be turned into a chapter, giving you […]
Happily ever after… Now write the rest
Writing the ending of your novel sounds like a simple task, doesn’t it? One glorious finish to countless hours of planning, fighting with characters, planning again, untangling a plot, a stiff neck, and sore fingers. But it’s often one of the most difficult pieces of any story. What if you have the perfect idea, but […]