Category: Writing

  • Plot: Not just a bunch of things that happen

    So now we get to the nuts and bolts: the plot of your story. There are a range of ways to look at plots, ranging from the core of your story to the method you use to simply keep your characters moving through the story with the real spotlight on them. Regardless, it is an…

  • Advice I take issue with: write what’s popular

    This is a semi-regular column I will do on the second Friday of the month if I have advice that I dislike and can tie into the month’s theme. This month it’s all about ignoring what you like to read about and instead choosing to write what’s popular, and why I highly recommend against it.…

  • That blank white page

    Welcome to the Random Writing Advice corner. Here, more offbeat or loosely connected pieces of writing advice that don’t fit within the main post of the month will be posted. These will either be on the first or second Wednesday of the month, depending on if I have announcements on the first Wednesday. For the…

  • What should I write about?

    The number one question any writer should, and probably will, ask is “what should I write about?”

  • “I want to write a novel”

    I remember hearing the title phrase a long time ago, in an ad for some sort of annuity company advertising a retirement savings plan. No, I don’t remember which one. However, I do remember the first time I heard it, I though well, why don’t you just write a novel, then? Over the intervening years,…