Writers’ Workshop
#2MinWritingTip – Fix A Flat Character
This tip may sound like a cheat for character development, but it’s really not. When you have a character who feels flat or one-dimensional, it’s usually because you’re playing him or her too close to an archetype. The gruff, hard-boiled detective, the dumb blonde supermodel. You’re relying on your readers’...
Read More
#2MinWritingTip – Character-Driven or Plot Driven?
We hear the question a lot: is your writing character-driven or plot-driven? I’m going to make a bold statement and say that’s a false dichotomy. All stories are character-driven or they aren’t very good stories. What we’re actually trying to categorize is the stakes: are they personal or are they...
Read More
#2MinWritingTip – Fiction Is Not Reality
“He said the events in my novel were unrealistic. But every single one of those things has actually happened in my life!” These were the words of an aspiring novelist friend when she recapped her conversation with a well-known agent. He objected not to the fictional parts of her...
Read More
#2MinWritingTip – Prioritize Story
Recently, I started reading a book that my friends had raved about–not one that I’ve written about here, by the way. The writing was beautiful. Clear. Clean. Even lyrical. And I couldn’t get past chapter eight. Maybe the story would have picked up. Maybe had I kept with it,...
Read More
