A guest post by Sandra Orchard Do you scratch your head when someone tells you that you need to “show, not tell”? It’s the key to writing compelling commercial fiction, but an often difficult concept to grasp in all its nuances. Today I’m going to share with you some simple ways to… “Show” emotion without […]
Writing Lesson 3.4-Empower Your Writing with these Simple Techniques
September 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Writing Lesson 3.3-Is Your Protagonist Too Passive?
September 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Protagonists, by story-telling nature, are the ones who are in a dilemma. Sometimes that means they’ve been put upon, taken advantage of, hurt, haunted, or chased after. But occasionally, when we write about their situations, we start to accidentally create such a passive character that we’re really the only ones who are excited about what […]
Writing Lesson 2.28 – Are Your Scenes Boring?
April 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
In my last tutorial, I talked about heroes who are too perfect. In that same line, writing scenes that are too nice will lose your readers’ attention. Scenes that just meander on in Niceness, exuding lovely scenery, quiet dinners, bits of dialogue that mean nothing are boring. Something has to happen, even subtly, or the […]
Writing Lesson 2.25 – Why Your Hero Can’t Be So Darn Perfect
March 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Some writers make the mistake of thinking that heroes must be perfect, but a too-perfect hero becomes a piece of cardboard to readers.
Writing Lesson 2.19 – Discovering the Arc
January 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
For centuries, explorers, scientists, and Bible scholars have been hoping to find the resting place and remains of Noah’s Ark. But as writers, we are on another search. We are exploring to find our story or character arc. A story without a compelling arc is unfinished. It lacks conflict. Characters don’t grow. The primary thing […]
