The Value of Short
Short story writing allows you to experiment with new plot types, genres, or voices without the commitment of a novel.Check out these tips for writing short.
Plotting Against Your Characters
“What’s the worst thing I can do to this character?” It seems like a terrible question to ask, but it might be the one that takes your story to the next level.
205: Voice
205: Voice
June 19, 2020
Do I Have To Have a Plot?
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Some writers hesitate to talk about plot because they believe it equates to preplanning their stories. For the organic or seat-of-the-pants writer, pre-planning simply doesn’t work for the way story unfolds in…
Plot Structure: Formulaic or Freeing?
You have to know the rules about structure to make informed choices when writing your story. Use this outline from Kristin Wolden Nitz as a starting point.
From Zero To Sixty
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > One of the hardest parts of creating a strong plot that grabs the reader is knowing where to start. If you start too soon, you risk boring the reader with a lot…
Plotting and Planning: The Premise
Before you plunge into writing the first chapter or outlining the plot, consider taking some time to put your basic premise through a stress test.
206: Pacing 101
206: Pacing 101
June 26, 2020
The Dance of Plot and Theme
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Many writers struggle early in their writing journal when they try to sort out the difference between plot and theme. In fact, the two work in tandem to create a story but…
Worldbuilding When You Can’t Go Out in the World | IFW
Research is key to creating believable worlds for the characters. Here’s how to research when you can’t travel to the places you are writing about. Let’s go!
Worldbuilding Bible
What is a Worldbuilding Bible? Do you need one? Find out all the answers in part 4 of our Worldbuilding writing series from Kristin J. Dawson.
9 Worldbuilding Mistakes to Avoid
In part 3 of our Worldbuilding series, discover 9 mistakes to avoid as you build and populate the world of your novel. Don’t miss these valuable tips!
Worldbuilding: Dressing the Set
As writers, the worldbuilding process includes adding elements that make each setting stir the senses of the reader while helping to move the plot forward.
Digging Deeper Into Your Worldbuilding
Welcome to part 2 of our Worldbuilding series where dig even deeper into your new world and what it should include and what you can leave out.
Introduction to Worldbuilding
Worldbuilding isn’t just for fantasy writers. Every character lives somewhere and travels through the world. Let’s make that world real for your readers.
Worldbuilding Checklist
Worldbuilding is usually associated with speculative fiction writers, but even historical, memoir, and romance authors must create a world for their characters.
Hands
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > My hands are cracking from washing them so often these days. Yours too? How about, in addition to tending to your hands with soap and water, writing a poem to and for and about them, those prehensile and…
My Body, Myself
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The architect Suchi Reddy said, “We build our lives from our bodies. Then we build the next layer and the next layer—our home, our towns, our cities, our villages, our world.” Do you see your body that way,…
Why Poetry?
Poetry has an intense flavor that prose generally doesn’t manage, and that intensity can make poetry valuable for a number of reasons in your writing.
List Poems
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > List poems have an off-hand quality, as though they’re not even poems but casual jottings like a grocery or birthday list. That makes them particularly accessible and welcoming for readers to enter, and their unassuming quality keeps them…
