When you’re deep in the writing process or staring down the blank page trying to begin, it’s easy to get tangled in the structure of your story. Do I start […]
What Constitutes a Scene? A Practical Guide for Fiction Writers
Stories are basically collections of scenes, so as writers, it can be useful to think about scenes as discrete units. But what exactly IS a scene? If you’ve ever found […]
How Discovery Writing Helps You Find Your Story
If you’re knee-deep in a draft and your story keeps changing on you, take a breath, you’re not doing it wrong. You’re doing the real work. A writer once said […]
Autofiction: When Your Story Doesn’t Fit in the Box
You sit down to write your story. It’s personal. Emotional. True, but also – not exactly. You’ve changed names. Rearranged events. Invented scenes to make the emotional arc land. And […]
Writing Hard Scenes That Carry Real Emotion
If you’ve ever hit a section in your story that made you want to close your laptop and walk away, you’re not alone. Writing hard scenes—grief, shame, trauma, heartbreak—takes something […]
Research for Fiction Writing
Do You Need to Know the Weather in Chicago on March 7, 1930? (Maybe) Research for fiction writing can be both inspiring and overwhelming. It’s easy to fall into the […]
Choosing Your Publishing Path: The Traditional Way or Self-Publish?
Somewhere along the way—usually after a few drafts and a whole lot of soul-searching—every writer faces the same question: Should I try to get a book deal, or should I […]