Flash Fiction Prompts: Leaving One Life Behind in 300 Words
Go over three flash fiction prompts that focus on “saying goodbye”, whether to someone, some place, or something, as a way to practice your implication skills. Readers love a story that doesn’t spell everything out for them, and these prompts can help you practice that specific part of your writing.
Why January is the Best Month to Outline (Even if You Hate Outlining)
Outlining tends to split writers into camps. Some rely on it to feel grounded. Others avoid it entirely, convinced it will drain the life out of a story before it ever reaches the page. If you fall into the second group, January can feel like the worst possible time to hear someone suggest outlining. You […]
Timing is Everything: How to Pace Your Story
It can be tricky to create effective pacing in your writing. Pacing isn’t just how fast your story moves along. It isn’t how slow it moves, either. Some readers may prefer one or the other (think action-packed suspense or slow-burn romance), but every story includes elements of both. Pacing is how you present your story […]
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 […]