Today we’re talking about one of my favorite revision tools, the reverse outline! So, first off, when can you use this tool? Anytime after you have a completed first draft. Whatever that looks like for you, if you have words down from the beginning to the ending of your story, you should be able to… Continue reading Writing Tools: The Reverse Outline
“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?” ― J.R.R.… Continue reading The Darkest Moment: The key to every great story
Let’s face it, pitching it hard. You’ve spent months or (more than likely) years drafting, revising, and polishing this novel to perfection, and yet now you need to summarize it down into less than 280 characters? Yikes. But don’t worry, there’s a few things you can do (as well as some to avoid) in order… Continue reading Crafting the Perfect Pitch: 5 Common Mistakes to Avoid
Story Genius by Lisa Cron is a great writing craft book to help you dig into the heart of your novel and find that magical “third rail” that keeps a reader engaged from page one until the very end. At its most basic level, the third rail is your main character’s internal conflict. This includes… Continue reading Finding the Third Rail: The Greatest Showman
Recently my CP group and I have been reading Story Genius by Lisa Cron, and wow, is that book insightful! This novel on writing craft takes you through the steps of drafting a killer novel. However, the focus isn’t on the external plot, but on your main character and their internal struggle which drives what… Continue reading Story Genius
Writing the opening pages of a novel is hard. How do you set the right tone? What’s the best way to convey the main character’s wants, needs, appearance, age, etc? How do you get the plot moving from page one? Sadly there’s no magic bullet that will address all of these things for all manuscripts;… Continue reading Advice for new authors – The pitfalls of fiction novel openings
