Creating Emotion in Writing Almost every writing class or craft book will tell you the same thing: fiction must create a compelling emotional experience. The problem is these teachers also let you know that if your character cries, the reader probably won’t. So how do you build this emotion? Simply writing highly emotional phrases such […]
Writing Lesson 10 – Know Your Enemy
October 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Create Villains as Real as Your Heroes When you’re planning a story, it is natural to pour your efforts into developing your protagonist’s character. You may spend a lot of time imagining his or her history, strengths, weaknesses, physical appearance . . . even, perhaps, what he or she eats for breakfast! What if you […]
Writing Lesson 7 – Your Hero’s Outer and Inner Journey
October 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment
The Hero’s Outer Journey A compelling hero takes two journeys in a story. The outer journey follows the plot line. It includes the goal, motivation and conflict we’ve already discussed. It begins with his goal and the steps he takes to reach that goal. Make sure you make the goal a seemingly impossible objective. A […]
Writing Lesson 2 – Where In the World?
September 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Planning Your Story’s Setting The Importance of Your Story World If you’ve finished Lesson 1 and discovered the goal, motivation and conflict for your story, you need to think about the setting. The setting plays an important role in the story since it anchors the reader in a time and place and provides a foundation. Several […]
Writing Lesson 1 – What’s the Big Idea?
August 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Have you ever heard of the shortest stories never written? A Woodcutter’s Life by Tim Burr Pirate Gold by Barry D. Treasure Snakes in Tall Grass by Leva Malone My Struggle with Insomnia by Anita Knapp Pitfalls of Procrastination by Ida Dunmore You get the idea…once you get past the title, there’s not much to […]
