Are you struggling to keep your readers engaged? Do you find that people give up before they get to the meaty stuff on page fifty-nine? If this sounds familiar, maybe your work lacks tension and conflict. All great fiction needs both conflict and tension to drive the...
In the first part of our exploration of conflict on the page, we explored how to place obstacles in a protagonist’s way — forcing them to demonstrate their mettle. We considered David Mamet’s suggestion that all great stories respond to the premise,...
A man walks into a room, finds the files he wants, and strolls out. Done. Objective achieved. The character has an objective: tick. He has a strategy: tick. He completes it: tick. But his actions don’t really encourage those page turns. Why? The sequence lacks...
Do you struggle to find a starting point for your novel? To write a great opening line that hooks reader? Do you find that you only really find your rhythm by the third chapter? Maybe you feel you’re starting your story at the wrong place? Many writers focus heavily...
Anyone who writes for a living needs to develop a keen eye for detail. But, for many great writers, proofreading is their proverbial Achilles heel. You might have a super-malleable grasp of the written word, but a misplaced (or missing) comma can change “let’s eat,...
