Fiction

You’ve always wanted to write a novel. But something’s stopped you. Maybe you’ve tried before, only to get a few, or several, pages in and lose steam because: Your story idea didn’t hold up You couldn’t overcome procrastination You feared your writing wasn’t good enough… [Continue reading below]

Too many novelists create a villain who does bad things because he’s the bad guy. He might as well appear in a melodrama, wearing a black hat and a cape while twirling his handlebar mustache. But a melodramatic villain is a cliché by definition —… [Continue reading below]

Everybody loves a story in which the hero is the ultimate good guy and triumphs over evil — like Superman or Harry Potter. But beware. The #1 mistake you can make when developing characters is creating heroes that are perfect. What reader can identify with… [Continue reading below]

Guest post by Becca Puglisi If you’ve been on the writing trail long enough, you’ve heard plenty of talk about conflict and the role it plays in storytelling. Whatever form it takes, conflict creates tension while providing opportunities for characters to grow and evolve as… [Continue reading below]

Stories without conflict, where the main character faces zero opposition, fail because they bore readers. In real life, harmony and agreement are worthy goals that produce a harmonious existence. But such is no recipe for stories that captivate readers. Readers love conflict. It’s the engine… [Continue reading below]