By Patricia McLinn 1.) No agent is always better than the wrong agent. This person will represent you to the publishing world and handle your money -- do your homework *and* listen to your g...

By Ann Roscopf Allen1. Set aside a time to write and keep it sacred.Make this a time when you know you are at your best and feel most creative -- Saturday mornings, late at night, whatever works f...

By Rita Hestand     I truly believe a writer has to learn their craft. Learning it can take years, I should know. I've been at mine forty years-and I'm still learning. So I've comp...

By Earma Brown   Have you started your book yet? Yes. Congratulations, you've begun a worthy journey! If you haven't started, do this first. Dream a bigger dream with me.   Im...

If you write fantasy or are thinking about writing fantasy you probably are going to have medieval weapons in your created world. Today's reader of fantasy is very savvy when it comes to weapons...

By Lisa Collazo, LCSW   How do writers become motivated to write?   Is there a special formula that writers need to follow in order to push forward with their writing?   Procr...

By Randy Ingermanson       What's the dirtiest word in a writer's lexicon? Think about that for a minute before you read on. What's the worst thing you can call a fellow writer?...

Foreword by the Author Developing Efficient Work Habits Elements Of A Successful Story In the opening... In the body of the story... In the conclusion... Throughout the story... ...

By Alicia Rasley     Archive of the Articles of The Month.     Making Scenes Matter Ten Tips to a Powerful Proposal Bad Guys Need Love Too Getting to Know You: Questions...

Last weekend, I held another sold-out workshop at Fox in Sydney, and, as is usually the case at my workshops, I found a new way of presenting an idea that helped me grasp it better. And I'd like t...

By Charlotte Dillon       There was a time when few novels, even romance novels, had much sex in them. There were many embraces and lots of panting and kissing and even some p...

ANALYSIS This section includes links to articles analyzing novels.    NOVELS ANALYZED   The Hunt for Red October [Bill Johnson]Anatomy of a Plot: A review of the plot and an ...

By Cynthia VanRooy Ever have the experience of meeting someone at a party and within minutes you've heard about their three miscarriages, the ex-husband they left because of his drinking, the ...

By Chris Lee Ramsden     All your main characters have a back story that you should probably know inside out. However, your readers don't need to be exposed to all the excruciating de...

By Steve Dempster     If you have decided to write a novel, the story that exists within it extends way beyond the book itself. This 'backstory' is what helps give your book depth: ...

By Winnie Griggs What is Backstory?  Quite simply, it is everything that happened to your characters from their birth up until the point your story opens.  So, by definition, all ba...

1.      Have a point and make it by means of the best word.2.      Weed out the Jargon.3.      Look for all fancy wording...

Here is, as promised, the set of questions that must be answered favorably to your copy before you can call your revision finished.I. What is the tone of my piece? Have I indulged myself in langua...

Learn the basic ingredients for writing Romantic Suspense novels...   By Cheryl Wright   Those first few lines, those opening sentences and paragraphs, are your  first ste...

By Melanie Anne PhillipsToo many writers fall into the trap of making Structure their Story God. There's no denying that structure is important, but paying too much attention to structure can dest...

Beginnings. Just like every chapter and scene within a novel has a beginning, a middle, and an and end, so does the entire novel.The novel beginning starts when the novel opens and ends at the tim...

Dull, sagging and lame. Who would want a life like that? Who would want to be like that? Yet, it's amazing how many stories sitting in slush piles around the world seem to have been modelled, at l...

The following are first lines - from some of my most loved novels:   Call me Ishmael.   It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must...

From the Elements of Effective Writing II: Form and Composition Workshop:   Opening Paragraphs It's usually best to start at the beginning, so let's take a look at opening paragraphs fir...

THE OPENING CHAPTER ...   A great opening to a romance sets up questions in the reader's mind; questions that only the writer can answer.   To achieve this the writer has to:  ...

The last thing Maxwell Hamilton had planned to do on his wedding night was make love to his wife.   Yes, a great beginning. And in my opinion, very descriptive of the tone and overall theme...

The art of blogging is the web phenomenon of the 21s century, being used both for personal use and as a business toll, but what is it that makes a successful blogger?   Here are a few ti...

Do you hate HTML, and you have been looking for a way to get round it then don't bother any more, for here is the revolution you have been waiting for. It's called BLOG.   Yes blog, a dr...

We've found these writing resources to be helpful and inspiring. Do you have a tricky grammar question? Do you like to read about the trials and tribulations of other writers (so that your own a...

During some recent Easy Way to Write chat sessions I've been banging on about building novel templates assuming everyone knows what ...

I think I'm safe in assuming that other writers have already shared the nuts and bolts of writing with you, so I'm going to focus on two things, the realities of writing and giving some encoura...

Creating great characters is an art unto itself, separate from storytelling. So, what are the basics? A great character is someone the reader wants to spend time with. Whether they're loved or ...

Picture the Conflict   One theory of psychiatry refers to "inner pictures" in a person's personal "photo album". As well as being a snapshot of experiences, the pictures are a way to visua...

Does your Main Character Change or Remain Steadfast? A lot of writers think a character must Change in order to grow. This is simply not true. Characters can also grow in their Resolve. In that...

Your story people will never be the same. Brought to you by Writers' Village UniversityFind out more about the Internet's leading onlinewriters' group, and how you can join!   The Charac...

Creating believable characters is an essential element of fiction. The story rest on your characters shoulders. If they don't hold up then your story collapses. So how do you make believable ch...

When I first started writing, I let the characters develop themselves. It was quite interesting to see the twists and turns they created in their own lives, but I lost control of them. As intere...

Plausible, complex characters are crucial to successful storytelling. You can develop them in several ways.    Concreteness  They have specific homes, possessions, medical histo...

by  William H. Coles, MD  Characterization in literary fiction has special importance and authors need to develop their own sense of responsibility for full and effective charact...

You need to know a lot of the background of protagonists characters you create for major projects. It's easy enough to describe the competent professional side of a person--much harder to paint...

Character tagsA tag word or action tag can make even a character that has a small part in your story stand out or be recognized when needed. With a main character, it can show a little pe...

Does your story suffer from "Multiple Personality Disorder"?   In psychology, Multiple Personality Disorder describes a person who has more than one complete personality. Typically, only ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Characterization is the process of conveying information about characters in fiction or conversation. Characters are usually presented through their...

I would never write about someone who is not at the end of his rope. --Stanley Elkin Many writers mistake the outer life of a character for the inner life, as...

Blurb: Learn all about characterization in the romance novel.   Solid characterization - the character traits or actions that define the people in a novel - is an essential part of any ...

Using People You Know Many scripts have been written with a particular actor (or at least their screen/ stage persona) in mind. The obvious drawback is that if your character is recognizable as...

The other day, a writer friend of mine told me her publisher recommended she read a certain book to get the flavor of what they liked to publish. Eager to know, my author friend rushed to find ...

Before you even begin writing your novel, you need to know who your characters will be. Minimally, you would want two major characters, the hero and the heroine. They will interact mostly with e...

An author's insight into the women who make the romance by Rachel Carrington   If you've written for any length of time then you know characterization is important to shape y...

The earl towered over her lithe form, broad shoulders blocking her view of the glittering ballroom. With his lazy smile, white teeth gleamed, almost feral in the candlelit corner. Boldly, he tra...

The debate rages on between alpha, beta, and now gamma heroes regarding which one is the best hero. Personally, I'm partial to tall, dark, and handsome alpha males. Give me Indiana Jones, Hans ...

Romance writers have a secret.   We know what makes a hero "to die for."   As romance writers, we construct men that women will fall in love with. At least, that's the goal. While ...

When people find out I'm a clinical social worker they usually say "I'll bet you get a lot of ideas from your work". They're right. Before I got a Masters degree in social work I earned a BA in...

Someone recently inquired about character development-specifically, how does a writer work through the process of character development to make flat characters into well rounded, believable peo...

ving life to a character is one of the most rewarding parts of being a writer. It is also one of the most difficult. Too many times in fiction we witness the "cardboard" or one-dimensional char...

Building a fictional character is the same thing as meeting a stranger and getting to know her. Take that meeting one step at a time, or as the old saying goes, peal that onion one layer at a time...

When beginning a novel, the tendency of most writers is to create a Protagonist to suit the plot or story they have imagined and then dive into the fun stuff of writing the book. But many autho...

Sometimes I think I get a bit overzealous. Like in thinking I can cover the subject of Controlling Character Emotion on a brief webpage. Books are devoted to this topic. I have given three-hour...

There are differing methodologies for creating child and adult characters for children's novels and adult fiction. These methodologies are based upon the viewpoint of the targeted reading audie...

A character is especially believable when the reader recognizes something familiar about that character. Something the reader can identify with. This familiar aspect could be an external marker...

Villains are tricky rascals.   As an author, your job requires you walk a fine line. You must make your villains credible, logical, believable and understandable, but not likeable. You want...

Introduction If you already have a story idea, it is a simple matter to create a whole cast of characters that will grow out of your plot.  In this lesson we're going to lay out a m...

When writing fiction, one of the greatest challenges is to come up with compelling characters that both interest the reader and fit the story. On the surface, fitting the story might seem like ...

Characters in any story must be well-drawn, interesting, and sympathetic if the reader is to identify with them and care what happens to them. Most romance readers are women, and they identify ...

In 1757, in Poor Richard's Almanac, the wise and astute Benjamin Franklin wrote: "Little strokes fell great oaks." There's an important message to writers in that saying, because it is through ...

Note: The following is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of "Everything You'll Ever Need to Know to Write a Bestseller" by Bill MacWithey.   While there are many aspects to writing, and we'll co...

How do you choose a name? Do you put down the first name that pops into your mind? Initially that's what I used to do, until someone pointed out to me that there are a few things to take into c...

In the beginning of your story you have to grab your readers' interest and sustain it till the end. Our hook is our character. Readers keep on reading to find out more about the character. To s...

How many characters belong in a scene, a story and a reader's head? Find out how to avoid fictional overpopulation. There are occasions when a crowd is desirable. Rock concerts, parades, footbal...

In fiction, character refers to a textual representation of a human being (or occasionally another creature). Most fiction writers agree that character development is the key element in a story...

By Terry W. Ervin IICharacterization is an important element in almost every work of fiction, whether it is a short story, a novel, or anywhere in between. When it comes to characterization, a ...

I'm sure you've read sentences like the following:   She dropped her eyes to the floor. (Whoops! Hope they didn't get broken. But why remove them from their sockets in the first place?)...

Round Characters: characters who recognize, change with, or adjust to circumstances. Complex and many-sided, they touch life at many points. The round character-usually the main figu...

Review these elements when critiquing short stories.   We will focus on one or two of these "elements of writing" at a time, by answering these questions (if they are not answered in the st...

Creating characters that are believable takes time and discipline. Creating dynamically real individuals and not imposing your own thoughts and impressions upon them is not easy to do, and is o...

You have, no doubt, heard of The Hero's Journey. In this article, we will explore the lesser-known ANTI-hero's journey and the uncharted dark side of the passage -- the place where the dark for...

Character Trait Chart and Personality Components It can sometimes be helpful to make a Trait Chart for each character. This is especially helpful during the early stages of character develo...

By Steve Dempster       The main or lead character in any story is a lynchpin and has very definite qualities. Miss one of these and your story may well grind to a halt! This a...

In the Name of Love... Finding the Right Names for Your Characters     Let's say you are writing a Harlequin romance (and who is not?), and you have come to the point in your story ...

How many times have we read through a story and found one or two secondary characters that just seem flat? There's something missing there. Well, friends, there's a simple technique that's guar...

As writers we've had the concept of "theme" pounded into our heads. "What's your story about?" Every story needs a theme: a single word that tells us the core of the story--or, what it's about....

What are some simple tricks to add instant personality to a minor character? Here are four techniques pros use to add a special touch to a character who's there to serve a function and not much el...

Have you ever wondered why characters like Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur, Achilles, Scrooge, Dorothy and Superman go on forever? The real secret of their immortality lies in something you've pro...

The process of building a hero is a little different than creating other characters. You are looking for a different response to him from the reader. Romance readers are for the most part women...

What's your perception of the word - heroine? Is it someone who's done something heroic, or is it simply the female protagonist in our stories? Must they be the same? And what is your definitio...

Show me your friends, and I'll tell you who you are, a special co-worker once told me. First, let me explain what special means. In Ebonics, we'll say, ''She's a special case.'' Or if someone i...

In this tip section we'll focus on creating differentiated characters, making each character unique and consistent. Character Pro 5 helps with this by providing a unique character spine based on y...

Fiction Writing and Characterization Fiction writers generally come in two kinds: those who are strong on plot, and those who are strong on characterization. Rarely is a writer brilliant at bo...

Try a simple experiment. Think about a person you know and blurt out, without too much thinking, either "adult" or "child." Now try another, and another. We're not talking about their age here....

Writing Emotional Scenes Without Melodrama   Emotional scenes are, of course, crucial to romances. A romance is a novel about two people falling in love and defeating their problems ...

by Richard Michaels Stefanik       Humor is a perceptual experience that causes people to laugh. By definition, it is generated by a ‘sudden radical deviation from expect...

We all want a happy ending for our characters, but on the way they need conflict. This conflict can be caused by the situation (say, she didn't tell him she was pregnant before he went off to w...

One of the most requested tapes from the RWA National Conference was Laurie's workshop on "The Psychology of Creating Characters." You can order the tape (called Romance Writers 98 Audio 3-10) ...

"In your opinion, what qualities should a hero always have?" Jayne Ann Krentz:  The fundamental qualities of a true hero are the ancient, heroic qualities: honor, courage, determination. No...

Ever heard of serotonin? Without getting too "sciencey," it's a chemical in the brain that affects behavior. High serotonin levels cause a calmness, serenity and resistance to change. Low serot...

Got one (or two) of your characters stuck? Don't know what to do with him/her? Is he/she getting too boring or predictable? Want to know more about his/her personality? Or maybe you have a story f...

By Terry W. Ervin II Fiction writers employ a variety of characters while weaving their tales. Beyond the standard definitions of protagonist (the main character in a literary work) and antago...

If you could sit down in a chair next to the editor of work by James Baldwin, Elia Kazan, Jack Higgins, Jacques Barzun, David Frost, Budd Schulberg, Dylan Thomas and Lionel Trilling, what could...

Barbara Dawson Smith   Man of action, man of steel, master of his own destiny. All these descriptions fit the historical hero, a hard-edged, dominant male who is willing to take enormous...

by Marg McAlister   One thing that gives away an inexperienced writer is overuse of tags such as 'she noticed' or 'he saw'. Example 1: "Taking a second look, SHE NOTICED that his face w...

Make no mistake, romances rise and fall on the yummy quotient of the hero. Plots may be brilliant, settings carefully researched, but if the reader doesn't fall arse over teakettle for the hero...

Michele Michele Albert/Michelle Jerott (written for The Romance Journal, 1998)   When Laura asked me to write a short piece on why Cajun heroes are popular, I said, "Sure!"  Then...

You've read him. You've loved him. Most of all, you've lusted after him. He's the bad boy hero - a fixture in romance novels, especially ultra-sensual and/or erotic romances. What makes him so ...

Characters. What's a work of fiction without them?   To my way of thinking, characters drive a narrative. Perhaps I'm lucky: I've got voices in my head, and when one of these voices begin...

"Only connect the prose and the passion,and both will be exalted." - E. M. Forster Emotions are the lifeblood of characters and of stories. Without emotional characters, you are just writing eve...

Growth is the by-product of a cycle that occurs in nature; that which flowers and fruits will also eventually wither and go to seed. The seed, of course, contains the potential for renewal, but...

What attributes and characteristics make a romantic hero? Does he have broad shoulders tapering to a trim waist? Is he tall and dark? Is he blond and witty? Each author and each reader has her ...

The famous (or is it infamous?) Seven Deadly Sins can be a great source for interesting motivations for the bad guy of your story. Most heroes also have issues with the deadly seven. As do most...

1. Don't underestimate the importance of knowing the character spine. Truly great characters have an innate consistency that can only come from knowing the character's inner workings. Spend the...

Let's focus on using stressful situations to reveal character and better define a character arc. Character Pro 5 helps with this by providing a unique character spine based on your choices and es...

Villains are tricky rascals. As an author your job requires you walk a fine line. You must make your villains credible, logical, believable and understandable, but not likeable. You want your v...

Villains come in many shades from "blush gray," to "buried alive black."   A character doesn't have to be a serial killer with a fine collection of little fingers to be a villain. Often t...

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. John Gray's book became a bestseller, and it's easy to see why. The contrasts between male and female are something most adults of both sexes can relate to...

"There's no need to stop a story to characterize," writes Editor Sol Stein in Stein on Writing, 1995.   You know your characters inside and out. Their hair color, skin tone, clothes sense...

By Paula L. Fleming Your protagonist has a problem she needs to solve. How will she go about it? Maybe she'll do it the same way you would if you were in her shoes. Then again, she's not you,...

We've all heard the loose definitions, "It's how the character changes during your story." Or, "It's what happens to your character to change him." Your character should travel an arc, which re...

Finding Your Hero in Category Romance by Catherine Mann and Joanne Rock Romance authors strive to create the ultimate hero with every story, a tall order when so many fabulous men have alrea...

Tight, well worn jeans, beard shadow and a hot stare that sees into your soul. That small, crooked smile, sexy enough to melt your heart.   And cocky confidence... that's well deserved. ...

WORKSHEET: Character Arc/Hero's Journey (Adapted from C. Vogler's "The Writers Journey " and J. Campbells' Hero with a Thousand Faces ")   CHARACTER ARC HERO'S JOURNEY YOUR CHARACTE...

While I was avoiding another run through with my characters, I started to think about my hero in my latest WIP. Some important questions were raised by my ruthless writer's subconscious that reall...

I like men.  I like their rougher voices, muscular bodies, hairy chests, and all the other wonderful differences that make them unlike me.  I like how they think, how they act, and how...

By Ruth D. KerceCopyright (c) A lot has been written about how to develop the hero and heroine in a story. An often overlooked, but equally important character, is the villain. He/She must als...

By James Patrick Kelly   Once I admitted to myself that I had the raging hunger to write, I gobbled up every book on the subject I could find. I still have most of them; I've just gather...

  CLICHÉS AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE from Laura Hayden's "Left-Brain- Right Brain/Creativity Program" suspense@suspense.net         ...

By Jenna Glatzer   You know how, when you're watching a speaker, you can tell if he or she is nervous? There are those tell-tale signs: trembling hands and voice, lack of eye contact, pe...

ALL THE STRUGGLES YOUR CHARACTERS GO THROUGH   Think of conflict as fuel for your story. Without conflict, there would be no action; no physical or emotional obstacles which must be overco...

Conflict is the primary problem or dilemma in a story. There are three kinds, commonly called man vs. man, man vs. nature, and man vs. self.   In man vs. man, the conflict is between ...

The Building Blocks of a Strong Plot By Pat Collinge   In building your characters, you need to develop heros and heroines who are strongly defined, who have a past, a present, and a futu...

By Tina Morgan Inserting conflict into your fiction is not quite as simple as inserting a fist-fight into the storyline. Conflict in fiction can be as diverse and as individual as you are. I...

By Andrea Kane     Visitors who have spent any time at all at All About Romance know that one of my pet peeves about romance is the "I hate you, now let's hit the sack" scenario so man...

By Peder Hill   Conflict is the essence of drama. Got none? Then you got none.  It's the primary ingredient that weaves together all the other elements of a novel.   You a Seinf...

By Cheryl St. John                 No matter what writing topic I'm asked to address, I hang the most importance on characters.&...

1. Does one of the characters have to change in order for the conflict to be resolved? _____ Yes, Score 1 _____ No, Score 0 _____ Both characters change, Score 2 2. Can conflict be resolved wit...

By Marg McAlister   Some writers are just too kind.   They hate to put their characters under any kind of pressure. They hate to see them losing, or struggling to survive. That's q...

By Lajos Egri Even people who know little about the mechanics of writing are bored by a static play, a play which has little conflict or spotty conflict. There are four types of conflict...

By Deborah S. Rossman   The development of conflict is perhaps the single most difficult task of the writer. It is also the most important.   Action in a story is defined by charact...

By Marg McAlister "Dan stood on the wet paving, his arms limp by his side, his jaw hanging in horror, as he peered through a crack in the curtains. Before him a man crept towards the figure ...

By Chris Lee Ramsden     In Chuck Palahniuk's ‘Fight Club', Tyler Durden gives his followers a special task to fulfill before they meet again: to pick a fight with someone in ...

By Mervyn Love   Most types of story, whether short stories or novels, absolutely need that vital ingredient: the conflict. Preferably more than one. You may well have your characters all ...

For those interested, Morgan Hawke has a new writing article on her blog - The Stages of INTERNAL CONFLICTWriting INTERNAL CONFLICT ~ On Paper!The Chronological Order of INTERNAL CONFLIC...

Conflict is very important in a romance novel -- and really in any kind of a novel at all.  What would the story of Romeo and Juliet be without the family feud?  How good would Gone w...

By Martha Tucker   Start your writing with conflict if you want to guarantee sales, grab anagent or publisher, get paid a big advance. Your protagonist wants something and your antagonis...

Out Of Your Head By Deborah S. Rossman and Mary Ann Heathman   Concentrate On Conflict | Creating Characters | Guidelines   "Crazy title, isn't it? Impossible, too. In the real wor...

Moviegoers and readers identify with stories through the characters. The most powerful way to reach an audience is through the characters' emotions. For only when we connect with the characters...

  One is easy, the other is... well, something else   Dictionary.com defines craft as: Skill in doing or making something, as in the arts; proficiency. The ...

In horror fiction, there is always a dark threat, something that goes bump in the night, or whatever else you choose to call what your main character is afraid of. Your Dark Threat may take the fo...

By Alicia RasleyNot all books need dark moments, but properly used, this point of crisis can intensify the conflict and at the same time, initiate its resolution.Think of the dark moment as the ti...

"To describe a blazing fire or a tree in a plain, we must remain before that fire or tree until they no longer resemble for us any other tree or any other fire. . . . There are not in the entire w...

When we encounter a new setting or new experience, all our senses are on the alert. While we may not be conscious of it, we are using filtering that experience in our own unique ways. We rea...

As a writer, it's your job to provide a vicarious experience to your reader. The only way you'll be able to do this successfully is by stimulating your reader's imagination. Not by bombarding ...

We don't hook a reader with logical exposition, flat narration or argument. We must get to the part of the reader's life that is involuntary, automatic: the five senses and mood/emotion. In th...

writing advice 14 Caro Clarke writing advice 16      Writing Advice 15 Description: What's it for?   (1) It was a dark and stormy night ...

by Vicki Hinze     I am ready to search for an agent, except that I don't yet have a title for my novel. Here's my dilemma: My story is both a mainstream novel and a mystery novel. ...

In a message dated 11/16/2004 10:35:21 PM Mountain Standard Time, LISTSERV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU writes:   You come up with an idea for a plot, you can see the main characters. You know ...

When I first started writing, I never gave a thought to developing the opening line. I just had a thought, sat down, and wrote it. Of course, I didn't sell anything. I don't think anyone learned...

This should be the easiest part of writing. After all, we learn to speak at a young age and practise that skill for the rest of our lives. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work that way, the re...

© Vicki Hinze    After you've written your scene, it's a good idea to run a checklist on all dialogue. As you do so, ask the following questions:   Did I say exactly wh...

By Steve Dempster   In short story writing, dialogue is very important for a number of reasons. I've listed a few below, not in order of importance - all are important - but to give a 'p...

From the Writing Effective Dialogue Workshop:   Here are three very important rules about punctuation with quotation marks that you should memorize (or at least write down and keep handy)...

"You get a real person down there and his talking will take care of itself." Flannery O'Connor"Make dialogue crackle with feelings not directly expressed." John Gardner"Dialogue is a lean language...

By Sandra E. Haven           Dialogue is one of the most useful tools in fiction writing. It can speed a story's pace. It can show characterization. It can off...

Speech is sloppy.  People leave out words, compress phases into single words, and use contractions.  Speech is impromptu, not planned.  People tend to have habitual phrases they ...

By Dr. Vicki Hinze   What makes dialogue effective?   Effective dialogue moves the plot forward. It deepens, or layers, characterization. It creates immediacy and intimacy, an...

By John Hewitt   Dialogue is one of the most difficult aspects of writing to master. There are many pitfalls you must try to avoid, such as: Stilted language Dialogue that does not sound l...

By Karen Hertzberg When it comes to writing good dialog, I'm of a mind that some writers are just born with a gift for hearing the voices in their heads and taking good notes. If you're on...

"Just be like that," she pouted.   "Oh, come on," he groaned. "Not this again."   "You don't love me," she replied.   "Right," he snarled. "That's why I bought you an eight hu...

Have you ever read a court transcript? It accurately gives a word-by-word report of exactly what is said. But it is interesting?   Uh-uh. If we wrote verbatim the way we talk, our readers ...

By Randy Ingermanson       Subtexting refers to the art of putting a whole different layer of meaning under the surface, so that the dialogue is not really about what the di...

By Sandra E. Haven        A person's character is more quickly revealed in dialogue than in any other way. Dialogue is both a method of communication between peop...

By Steve Manning   Dialogue isn't so much read as it is heard by the reader. The eyes see the words on the page, the brain processes the thought, but then that little voice we all have i...

By Sandra E. Haven   HANDLING: BROKEN GRAMMAR, ACCENTS, AND INTENDED MISSPELLINGS    Common methods employed by writers to show a character's voice include poor grammar, alte...

By Marg Gilks   Think about it: there's a pretty boggling array of punctuation marks at our disposal -- not just your run-of-the-mill sentence-enders like periods, question marks, an...

The business of dialogue. We're treating it as if it is something arcane, and esoteric, and that you need a master's degree, and all that. All it is, is talk. Dialogue is the currency of humani...

By Linda O'Brien Tag (tag) n. v. 1. a descriptive word or phrase applied to a person, group, organization, etc. as a label or means of identification; epithet. Webster's New Universal Unabri...

By Sandra E. Haven   Accents, Broken Grammar & Other Tricky Dialog Common methods employed by writers to show a character's voice include poor grammar, altering spelling to reflect m...

By Nancy Warren   I was thinking about how often we refer to good dialogue as ‘sparkling'. For some reason, thirst perhaps, the word sparkling immediately made me think about m...

By Nicole R Murphy   There's nothing that kills a scene like hackneyed dialogue. Just stop and think about the average B-Grade Hollywood Movie. Sure, at times the plot is bad and the...

By Lee Masterson   Before I begin, it's important to understand a little about dialogue in fiction. Regardless of what you might read on the page, dialogue in a story is NOT about two pe...

By Gloria Kempton   Dialogue is conversation--nothing more, nothing less. How hard do we really think about the conversations in which we engage on a daily basis? How difficult do we mak...

As an editor, I can tell you that one of my BIGGEST pet peeves is when a writer "pesters" me every other day or once a week about his (or her) submission. I don't mind if it's a viable q...

By Vicki Hinze  Inside each of us resides the demon Doubt. It rests easily there, right on the shoulders of Fear. And like Fear, Doubt attacks us when we least expect it-and when we least...

Archetypal Characters   Introduction to Archetypes   Archetypes exist as a form of storytelling shorthand.  Because they are immediately recognizable, an author may c...

By Nicole R Murphy   There are certain things that nearly all beginning writers do. It's almost a right of passage, to have them picked up and commented on. So to save yourself ...

By Crawford Kilian   If your novel or short story is going to work, it's going to need all the right components. Used without imagination or sensitivity, those elements may produce only...

Fiction tells a story through plot, setting, and characterization: Plot     Sequence of actions, usually presented in individual scenes.  Somebody is doing something,...

Exposition: The introductory material which gives the setting, creates the tone, presents the characters, and presents other facts necessary to understanding the story.   Foreshad...

By Robert Harris   The gothic novel was invented almost single-handedly by Horace Walpole, whose The Castle of Otranto (1764) contains essentially all the elements that constitute the g...

Lori Handeland How do you create the perfect ending? How do you find a way to put the finish on months of work? How do you produce an ending to your masterpiece that will make your story linge...

By Dr. Vicki HinzeThe ending of a novel is the summation; the portion of the book where what the characters have experienced in the novel's events lead to a conclusion that is logical and in a sen...

By Joy Cagil     To satisfy the reader emotionally, a good ending is as important as a good beginning. Readers should not finish our stories with a bad taste or a feeling of somethi...

From the Extended Short Story Writing Workshop: The (Last) Most Important Part of Your Story   In truth, the ending of your story is no more important than the beginning or middle, but it...

By Lea Schizas       Bungee jumping, sky diving, secret mission, Indy 500: how do these events compare to the art of fiction writing? Each one brings to its "doer" an element o...

By John Hewitt     I am not opposed to happy endings. When you spend the length of a movie or a book rooting for one or more characters, you want things to work out well for them. T...

Part 1 Parts of Speech 1.1 Nouns 1.1A Noun Identification1.1B Count, Mass, Collective Nouns1.1C Plural & Possessive Nouns 1.2 Pronouns 1.2A Pronouns & Antecedents1.2B Ambiguous...

By Jo Beverley   This brief run-down of English titles is for use by fiction writers. It is by no means comprehensive, but covers the more common situations arising in novels set...

By Bill Johnson Understanding What A Story Is *An essay that explores the human need for stories.   Foundation Principles of Storytelling *This essay discusses 15 principles I believe...

© by Holly Lisle All Rights Reserved Back when I was attending a fair number of conventions and signing a decent number of books, I came up with a saying which I attributed ...

  I. The First Introduction   THAT'S RIGHT. I know it sounds like an ad for some sleazy writers' school, but I really am going to tell you everything you need to pursue a successful a...

By Rachel Simon   Exposition is the background material a reader needs to for the story to move forward. In "Little Red Riding Hood," we need to know that our main character is a girl on...

"Exposition is the communication of knowledge which the reader requires in order to understand a scene." Ayn Rand"Back story is all the stuff that happened before your tale began but which has an ...

By Dr. Vicki Hinze   If you're confused about the difference between narrative and exposition, don't worry. Most writers use the terms synonymously.  Both are portions of the w...

What is Expository Writing? Exposition is a type of oral or written discourse that is used to explain, describe, give information or inform. The creator of an expository text can not assume tha...

By Steve Dempster   Your story, be it novel, short story or novelette, is finished. Or is it? Before you send it to a publisher, check firstly that your story makes sense!Maybe you r...

Definitions (by Madison Smartt Bell unless otherwise indicated)_________________________Aesthetic Distance-A deliberate emotional remove from the events of the story that can be closed or opened, ...

By Sandra Haven    Words are plentiful--and free. Just look in the dictionary! So how does a writer take these bare essentials and create a real, honest-to-goodness, worth-the-time-...

by Jennifer Turner   The brainstorm hits like a monsoon. Your muse is screaming in your ear. The world fades into a tapestry of forgotten dust bunnies and dirty dishes. You have an idea...

Flashbacks and foreshadowing are tools that we can use to add dimension to our writing. Flashbacks give us the ability to see into a character's past in real time. Foreshadowing drops hints of ...

Most writers try to avoid flashbacks, but if you just can't resist sending your readers back in time, fiction columnist Nancy Kress has some advice. Kress explains what makes a flashback work, ...

By Syd Field     At this moment in time, I think we're in the middle of a screenwriting revolution, a time where screenwriters are pushing the form and craft in new directions. I fi...

  It is never wise to decide beforehand what length a thing will be. It will be as long as it takes to do it . . .   I'll call any length of fiction a story, whether it be a novel o...

  A short story is a single movement with a single climax which "by the rule of elegance and efficiency" should contain the fewest scenes possible-perhaps three. The shor...

Okay, this is an easy one. So much of writing is subjective -- my preferences are not necessarily the same as someone else's, nor are they necessarily right or wrong. But writing professionals ...

No one knows for certain how many good stories are passed over because the manuscripts containing them are formatted poorly, but it is certain that a properly formatted manuscript will be more ...

by Nick Daws   So you want to write a book, but can't think of an idea? No problem! Here are just a few suggestions to set you on the road to your first best-seller!   Start b...

So you say you want to get published? Well, great! These days you have more options than ever to see your work in print. Whenever I teach at conferences I am always amazed at how many authors are ...

By Vicki Hinze This brief glossary of terms, from the reference point of fiction types, hopefully will aid in defining what you're writing and help familiarize you with common terms:   ...

Adjectives are modifiers. They describe nouns & specify size, color, number, etc., e.g., The small "x" in the upper corner of the window is used to exit your file. Adverbs describe verbs, ...

The greatest novel in the history of the universe will never reach publication if the author does not have a decent command of the English language. If your grammar needs a brush up, consider t...

The comma appears to be a harmless little fellow, but don't let appearances deceive you. Sure, the little guy never shouts, never declares, never questions, never even finishes a sentence, for ...

By Michael LaRocca Most books aren't rejected because the stories are "bad." They're rejected because they're not "ready to read." In short, minor stuff like typos, grammar, spelling, etc. &n...

From the Writing Effective Dialogue Workshop:   Here are three very important rules about punctuation with quotation marks that you should memorize (or at least write down and keep handy)...

Part 1 Parts of Speech 1.1 Nouns 1.1A Noun Identification1.1B Count, Mass, Collective Nouns1.1C Plural & Possessive Nouns 1.2 Pronouns 1.2A Pronouns & Antecedents1.2B Ambiguous...

By Sandra E. Haven         Most writers tend to use too many passive verbs in their stories. Passive verbs "tell" readers what you, the author, think is the situation. They...

By Judy Vorfeld Are you one of the many bright people who speaks well but has trouble with the mechanics of writing: following those confusing rules concerning spelling, punctuating, capitalizi...

If the first rule of writing is Show, Don't Tell, the second should be Keep It Active. Active voice is what puts us in the middle of the action and allows us to feel. Passive voice is what give...

By Stevi Mittman     Exercises to Strengthen and Tighten Your Writing   Note: Over the course of the next year or so I hope to do several of these columns focusing on sev...

What Makes a Clear Sentence?     The most basic kind of sentence follows what is called the SVO pattern. It begins with a subject (S), something performing an action; then it has a ...

Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language.-Rule 12 WilliamStrunk, Jr.   The Elements of Style ...

Conventions of Written English     Most young Americans will know most of the contents of this section fairly well. Our schools have done a good job in teac...

Writer Index   FAQs   How to Write Publishing Literary Agents Editors Money Business of Writing Going Pro Worldbuilding Miscellaneous Writing HollyLi...

By Laura Backes, Publisher Children's Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children's Writers  Tension. Without it, life would be--let's face it--boring. So would fiction. Tension works with ...