Written well, a flashback can give your readers insight into a character and add depth to your story. Done poorly, it can feel out of place, forced, and worse—cliched. A flashback constitutes an interruption of your main onstage present story to depict events from the past. If you flash back, you must have a concrete […]
Read MoreWant Jerry as Your Mentor? Learn More You know writing a book is going to be hard, even grueling. But synopsizing it should be easy. So, why does it feel so intimidating? It’s not just because you must convince an agent or a publisher (in as few as 500 words) that your novel or nonfiction […]
Read MoreYou’ve heard this writing advice a thousand times, and you’ll hear it a thousand times more: Show, don’t tell. But what does it mean? If you struggle with the difference between showing and telling, you’re not alone. Once you’ve got it, it seems simple. But until you do, learning this technique can be as frustrating […]
Read MoreWant 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 […]
Read MoreWant Jerry as Your Mentor? Learn More Mastering how to write plot twists involves more than just throwing a monkey wrench into your story. A well-written plot twist must be subtle. You’ll need to learn: How to set up a plot twist Where to insert one How to use it to drive the main […]
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