Archive:

Plot Development

How to Develop a Great Story Idea

January 29, 2025

If you jumped online to find writing prompts or story ideas, you’re in the right place. But what I’m about to tell you may surprise you. Novelists must think differently from other writers. Our aim is to create a world our readers can get lost in. But it’s easy to become overwhelmed before we even […]

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Creative Writing 101

January 27, 2025

Want Jerry as Your Mentor? Learn More You love to write and have been told you have a way with words. So you’ve decided to give writing a try—creative writing. Problem is, you’re finding it tougher than it looks. You may even have a great story idea, but you’re not sure how to turn it […]

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Writing Relationship Conflict: Prolonging the Agony

January 27, 2025

Want Jerry as Your Mentor? Learn More Guest post by Becca Puglisi When it comes to story conflict, there are so many options to choose from. Power struggles, physical threats, moral dilemmas, failures, ticking clocks — they’re all great for ratcheting up tension, building reader empathy, and strengthening our plotlines. But the conflict we face […]

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The Hero’s Journey: A Classic Story Structure

January 26, 2025

Writing a compelling story, especially if you’re new at this, can be grueling.   Conflicting advice online can overwhelm you, making you want to quit before you’ve written a word. But you know more than you think. Stories saturate our lives. We talk, think, and communicate with story in music, on television, in video games, in […]

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The Writer’s Guide to Creating the Plot of a Story

January 26, 2025

Great page-turning stories live or die by their plots. “I took the dog to the park” doesn’t interest me. “You won’t believe what happened when I took the dog to the park” interests me. I want to know what happened, so I’ll stick with you as long as your story holds me. To keep me […]

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