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Articles about craft.

Quick Links: What’s the Difference between Plot and Story?

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I admit that when I first looked at this post by Jami Gold, I was didn’t think there was going to be much I could get from it. But Jami goes deep. There is a very important difference between the story and the plot, and that difference is what makes a great story. Check out the post at jamigold.com and see if you agree.

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What’s the Difference between Plot and Story?

I want a magic pen!
I want a magic pen!

by Jami Gold

May 3, 2016

When we first start off as writers, if someone asks us about our story, we might launch into an overview of our story’s plot. It’s easy to think the plot is what our story is about.

Believe me, I know. I have several query letter drafts that took that road to rejection. *smile*

Yet one complaint I’ve heard from agents over the years is that many queries are too “plotty.” What does that mean?

With few exceptions, story isn’t the same as plot.

For this post’s image above, the plot event would be: man lost in a desert. The story behind it would be: man struggles to survive.

What’s the difference? Stick with me and find out. *smile*

Nouns vs. Verbs

Which sounds stronger and evokes more emotion?

  • The sorority member stopped her luxury sports car in front of the three-story brownstone.
  • The woman screeched her car to a halt in front of the house.

For many of us, we’re going to say the second sentence sounds stronger. We get a sense of action and urgency, which are emotional concepts.

Now take a closer look at those two sentences. They’re essentially the same idea—a woman is parking in front of a house.

The difference is that the first sentence concentrates on precise nouns:

  • sorority member vs. woman
  • luxury sports car vs. car
  • three-story brownstone vs. house

The second sentence focuses on a strong verb:

  • screeched vs. stopped.

That example isn’t meant to imply that we shouldn’t use precise nouns. In fact, we should use precise nouns and strong verbs. Instead, the example shows how verbs are the part of speech that add action, emotion, and narrative drive to our story.

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Quick Links: Your Two-Year Plan for Writing, Editing and Publishing Your Novel (However Busy You Are)

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When I first read this post by Ali from Aliventures I admit I was a bit shocked. Two years seems like a long time! But then I realized that not only was this a reality check, but when you look at the plan, it makes sense. Especially considering she is talking about spending only 30 minutes a day to work on your project. So if you have ever made any excuses on why you haven’t written more (Guilty!) this article is for you! Ali even offers a free download of the material she uses in the post.

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Your Two-Year Plan for Writing, Editing and Publishing Your Novel (However Busy You Are)

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i will schedule my writing... I will schedule my writing... I will schedule my writing.
I will schedule my writing… I will schedule my writing… I will schedule my writing.

April 25, 2016

Have you ever told yourself something like this:

  • “Once I have a bit more time, I’ll start work on that novel.”
  • “Once life is less manic, I’ll get back to my novel.”
  • “If only I could take a year off work, I could finally write my novel.”

A novel is a major undertaking. But it’s also one that can fit around a busy life.

You don’t need all day, every day, to write.

If you can find just 30 minutes each day, you could finish a novel (to the point where you’re sending it out to agents, or self-publishing) in just two years.

If, like me, you know some super-prolific novelists (like Joanna Penn and Johnny B. Truant), one novel in two years might sound a bit slow.

But … one novel in two years is definitely better than no novels at all.

What You Need to Make This Work

Obviously, I have to make some assumptions about your time available and writing speed. (We’ll get to “making time” and “speeding up” in a moment.)

For the plan to work, you’ll need to:

  • Have 30 minutes per day available (or the equivalent across a week, e.g. two 1 h 45 m sessions).
  • Write an average of 500 words per day during the first draft
  • Edit at an average pace of 1,000 words per day

The plan allows for:

  • Two full drafts (writing 500 words per day)
  • One full edit (editing 1,000 words per day)
  • A final tidying-up edit (editing 1,500 words per day)
  • Plus time for your novel to be with your editor and/or beta readers.

This should result in a novel of 75,000 – 80,000 words, completely finished (from initial idea to ready-to-go book) within two years.

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Quick Links: How to Survive the Edit Letter

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Writing is a very personal thing. So it is easy to see why people have difficulty with feedback. It’s like getting immunization shots, you know you need them but it’s going to hurt.  One way to get good feedback is working with critique partners. {Writability}’s Ava Jae has the lollypop and band-aids ready as she gives us tips on how to survive the critiquing process.

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How to Survive the Edit Letter

by Ava Jae

I'm sorry... You have run on sentences. Have a tissue.
I’m sorry… You have run on sentences. Have a tissue.

So we all know working with critique partners is a very good thing you should be doing if you’re a writer, and we know that even after you get an agent, the revisions don’t stop until the book is on the shelf. Which means between the first draft and the final printed copy, writers have to do a lot of revisions. And generally, when those revisions are based off someone else’s notes…there comes the edit letter.

A lot of edit letters.

I recently got a question on tumblr about handling edit letters, and it occurred to me that while I’ve mentioned tips here and there for handling critiques, it doesn’t look like I’d really dedicated a post to it. So now I am.

The long and short of this is even when you like revising (like me)—even when revising is your favorite part (like me)—edit letters can be pretty hard to swallow. Whether it’s a bulleted e-mail or a fifteen-page Word document (both of which I’ve received), reading an edit letter can feel a bit like getting punched in the stomach repeatedly. And at the end you’re supposed to smile and say, “thank you.”

So how do you handle an edit letter? These are the steps I take:

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Quick Links: The 6 Elements of Fiction

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Character, plot, setting, point of view, theme, and style. According to  these are the six elements you need for good fiction, and she goes into detail about each one over at The Write Practice.

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The 6 Elements of Fiction

Digital Girlby
Much of writing is instinctual, born of exposure to good stories and a lot of practice. However, there are some tools every writer needs to make their story professional and effective. Grammar and spelling are the obvious ones, but today, I’m talking about the elements of fiction: character, plot, setting, point of view, theme, and style.

The First Element of Fiction: Character

In many ways, characters are the foundation for the entire work. Is there conflict? That’s going to involve the emotional and mental condition of your characters. Have you chosen a point of view? That’s you following specific characters as you tell the story. Your characters are the people through whom your reader experiences the tale, and the trick is to make those fictional characters feel completely real.

  • You’ll need to know their backstory. This doesn’t mean your reader needs to know it, but your understanding of your character’s history is crucial for how and why your character responds to things.
  • You’ll need at least a rudimentary grasp of psychology. You and I have both read books which annoyed us because the characters just didn’t feel “real.” Often, this is because basic psychology was ignored, and the characters behaved in a way that made no sense for human beings.
  • You’ll need to understand the power of the character arc. Your character should not be the same at the end of the story as in the beginning. They change, and their growth is a key aspect of your story’s momentum.
Read the full post on The Write Practice

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Links: The Joy Of Genre Mashing: 5 Tips For Writing Cross Genre

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Some books are very easy to put into a genre – like The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe #1) by Raymond Chandler, 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, or The Notebook (The Notebook #1) by Nicholas Sparks. Others not so much. Lines are becoming more blurry as authors try and find where they fit the best and to be honest where they can get the most exposure. Take the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer which can be classified as romance, fantasy, and for some of us, comedy.  (Sorry!)  shares her wisdom with us and gives us 5 tips to deal with cross genre.  So head on over to The Creative Penn and let us know your thoughts on genre.

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The Joy Of Genre Mashing: 5 Tips For Writing Cross Genre

A little sweetness, a little spice, makes my reading very nice!
A little sweetness, a little spice, makes my reading very nice!

by Joanna Penn

Genre is a difficult word as many authors resist being ‘put in a box.’ But the reality is that, when you self-publish, you have to choose three categories for your book. And if you want a traditional publisher, they will have to put you somewhere too.

So I tend to think of genre as category these days. The problem is … which do you choose!

As J.F.Penn, I write across the boundaries of supernatural thriller, action adventure, dark fantasy, and crime with an edge of horror. When I first started out writing fiction in Australia, I met Alan Baxter, because he writes books that I enjoy with similar cross-genre themes. In today’s article, Alan explains how we can make the most of writing genre-mashing.

I am unashamedly a genre writer. But I find it hard to answer when people ask what genre.

Generally, I tend to write speculative fiction, which is the umbrella term for science fiction, fantasy and horror. Most of my stuff is dark urban fantasy and horror. But it’s rarely only those things. I include a lot more than just SFF tropes in my stories. I’m a huge fan of crime, noir, mystery, thrillers – in all honesty, I’ve never met a genre I didn’t like.

I’ve written a weird western ghost story, a novella that turns sweltering Sydney into a noir landscape where supernatural beings are dealing with mental illness, a historical pirate yarn with a cosmic horror threat looming over the world. My novels are paced like thrillers, dive through realms of crime and mystery, but are thick with magic and monsters and mayhem. And often a lot of martial arts, as I’m a martial arts instructor too and that’s the only other thing I’ve been doing as long as I’ve been a writer.

So how do we genre-mash without our stories becoming a mess? Here are 5 tips that I like to keep in mind:

Read the full post on The Creative Penn

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Quick Links: My #1 Best Productivity Tool – How to Get the Job Done!

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Time to get some work done! Do you have problems procrastinating? I do! ; )  So it is good for us that Shelly Hitz shares with us her tricks to just get’er done.  I actually use a slight spin to Shelly’s method. I set a timer for five minutes and promise myself that if I do just five minutes of solid work on the task I am avoiding, I can take a break. By the end of the five minutes, I am usually invested in the task and will continue. If not, I take a break and then try again. That said, I am a long time big fan of the “Pomodoro Technique” that Shelly also goes into. What are your tips for getting work done?

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My #1 Best Productivity Tool – How to Get the Job Done!

This is the kind of timer I like when it is time to read
This is the kind of timer I like when it is time to read

Shelly Hitz

In this post I share with you my #1 best productivity tool.  It is a simple tool, but very effective. I will also share some tips for you on how to be more productive and stop procrastinating.

Put that Timer to Work!

Let me tell you a story. I was trying to get some bookings for different potential speaking engagements, and needed to write a letter for mailing. However, I had been putting it off. It felt so hard for me and all I was thinking was “I don’t know what to write” and “I don’t know what to do.”

This had been my dilemma until I thought of putting my own advice into action and using a timer.

Yes, a timer!

So I took out a timer, set it to 25 minutes, sat down, got out my notes, and started writing. Then, I took a 5-minute break, set my timer to another 25 minutes and before I knew it, the letter was done!

The task that I have been putting off for weeks is finally done. And it’s all because of a timer.

This method is called “Time Boxing”.

By using a timer, you are setting a deadline on your brain, which will allow you to focus on that one thing that you are trying to finish.

Read the full post on Shelly Hitz

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Quick Links: Everything You Need to Know About Writing a 3rd-Person POV

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It’s all about your Point of View.  Over at Helping Writers Become Authors, K.M. Weiland goes in depth about writing in third person pov, with links to articles on omniscient point of view, and first person point of view. I know this is my weak area, and my focus for this years NANO in November.

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Sometimes your point of view can be terrifying...
Sometimes your point of view can be terrifying…

Chances are good you’re using a third-person POV (or Point of View) in your story right now. If not, then you likely used it in the past or will give it a try in the future. It’s a nearly universal writing technique and the most popular of all the POV choices. But are you using it correctly?

Not everything in writing comes easily. I often talk about how most of storytelling—particularly structure—is surprisingly instinctive for most writers. We understand it on a subconscious level, to the point we’re often on the right track with our books long before our conscious brains catch up.

But not everything’s like that. For most writers, POV isn’t like that. The gist of one of the questions I most frequently receive is: “POV????!!!!”

I’ve written primer posts about omniscient POV and first-person POV, but I realized I still needed to do one on the most prevalent of all POVs—the third-person POV.

This is the POV of choice in more books than not—everything from Emma to Ender’s Game. It’s arguably the least complicated of the POVs, so it’s a good choice for beginning writers. But it’s also arguably the most flexible of the POVs, which means it’s also a good choice for the most advanced and complicated of stories.

Read the full post on Helping Writers Become Authors

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Quick Link: 5 Cases of Dangling Modifiers

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It’s grammar time! Are you embarrassed when your modifiers dangle in public? Me too! Good thing Mark Nichol at Daily Writing Tips is here to help us out.

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5 Cases of Dangling Modifiers

Words Written In Plastic Kids LettersBy Mark Nichol

Take care that when you begin a sentence with a subordinate clause—a string of words that does not stand on its own as a complete statement but supports the main clause—the modifying phrase pertains to the sentence’s subject and not to some other noun or noun phrase. Here are five sentences that fail the test, with explanations and revisions.

1. Despite being reluctant to start a film career, Alan Rickman’s initial foray into cinema found him nearly stealing Die Hard away from Bruce Willis and cementing his status as a master of memorable bad guys.

This sentence suggests that Alan Rickman’s movie debut was reluctant to begin a career in film. The modifying phrase must refer specifically to the person, not to a reference to something about the person, to repair this illogical error; simply insert his name, change the adjective reluctant to the noun reluctance, and, in the subject of the sentence, change his name to a pronoun: “Despite Alan Rickman’s reluctance about starting a film career, his initial foray into cinema found him nearly stealing Die Hard away from Bruce Willis and cementing his status as a master of memorable bad guys.”

2. Stopped up on blocks, I can see the boat from keel to top deck.

Writers (or their editors) can often fix dangling modifiers—here, the writer describes herself, not the boat, as being stopped up on blocks—by starting the sentence with a subject and inserting the modifier as a parenthetical in the middle of the sentence: “I can see the boat, stopped up on blocks, from keel to top deck.”

Read the full post on Daily Writing Tips

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Quick Link: Believe It Or Not: How Not To Write Action

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Writing any action scenes? Writers In The Storm‘s Tiffany Lawson Inman gives examples of what not to do, and then shows you how to write action and fighting sequences that will have your reader on the edge of their seat.

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Believe It Or Not: How Not To Write Action

April 11th, 2016

The Perfect male body - Awesome boxing fighterTiffany Lawson Inman

A lengthy list of components must come together to create well-written action and fighting in fiction. One of the most important components is believability.

Believability in writing action and fighting is something that trips-up many authors and editors. I am including editors because I have read too many published books with out-of-place action words and phrases and sometimes entire action or fight sequences. So it would seem that the editors as well as the authors either don’t recognize the issue or don’t know how to fix it and it is then a rough spot for your readers.

Always be asking yourself if your characters are using the right actions.

Are the actions you have written for them even in the same skill set as that character?

Are they fighting a fight in your novel or have they transformed into one of the knife-wielding thugs from one of Harlan Coben’s latest novels?

You do not want your character to go from little Ashley, the ninety-nine pound Physiology major at CU Boulder, to Bruce Banner’s Hulk in a blink of a word or phrase. Unless this is a paranormal and she has super powers, of course. A beefed-up and out-of-place word or phrase will pop off the page and wedge itself between your reader and your story.

This is not a good thing.

Examples of out-of-place action words and phrases for the character’s skillset and theme of the book they were written for:

  • She launched herself out of the car window.
  • He targeted the man’s jawline and threw a fast jab that connected with a crack. He knew he had just broken someone’s jaw.
  • She turned back towards her attacker with a quick spin and side-kicked. The kick landed against his neck and she quickly readjusted her stance to get in few more kicks.
Read the full post on Writers In The Storm

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Quick Links: On Writing Dreams and Nightmares

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Short & Sweet today. Dream sequences and nightmares are great tools for writing. You can give readers an inside view of your characters by their dreams or nightmares, and bring added depth.    at {Writability} shares some insights on great night-scapes.

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On Writing Dreams and Nightmares

elementsSo I got a question semi-recently from a reader about writing dreams and nightmares. I found this an especially interesting question, both because I was surprised I hadn’t covered it, especially given I’ve written a ton of dream sequences for various projects, including Beyond the Red.

Dreams are really interesting, and when done well, a dream or nightmare in a book can convey a few things:

  • Flashback/memory. Dream sequences can be a great way to flash back to or hint at an event from your POV character’s life, especially if it’s a traumatic event. Dreams are sometimes the way the brain processes difficult-to-process life things, and in writing they can be an organic way to look back at an important event in your POV character’s life.

  • A character’s fears, desires, or something they’re struggling with. I’m sure just about every one of you have dreamed about something you wanted, or something you were afraid of, or something you were sad about, or someone you missed, etc., etc. Likewise, in books, dreams can be a way to show character emotion—especially emotion that your POV character is trying to bury.
Read the full post on {Writability}

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Quick Link: The Key to Creating a Wholly Believable Character

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What goes into making a good character? Walt Disney knew that it is the little details that add up and make an experience great. That is also the key to creating a believable and relate-able character. It’s the details on how they react and respond to the stimuli around them. At Live Write Thrive, Susanne helps you to flesh out and humanize your characters. It is a really good read and one I am bookmarking to go back to.

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The Key to Creating a Wholly Believable Character

April 4, 2016

Cheerful woman making selfie photo on smartphoneSusanne Lakin

Last week I talked about the natural action-reaction cycle that’s such an important issue in fiction writing. So many manuscripts I critique are missing key reactions from characters. This oversight—and I believe that’s what usually causes this problem—is similar to scenes lacking appropriate description of setting or characters.

Writers see their scenes in their heads, and often while attempting to get all the many details down and locked in, they fail to pay attention to these nuances and trimmings. Yes, it’s often easier to come back later and fill those in—bring in sensory elements and the touches of description that help bring a scene to life.

And writers can certainly add in those needed reactions as well. So long as they can spot what’s missing.

While a lack of description details can be easy to spot and subsequently provide, if a writer doesn’t really get the natural flow of action-reaction, he won’t know it’s missing. Or know how to insert it so it’s believable.

Put Yourself in Your Character’s Shoes

So much of writing great fiction lies in the ability for writers to put themselves in their characters’ shoes (or slippers or moccasins). I don’t think writers take enough time to sink into the roles of their characters. To mull over how it feels to be George or Sally or Fido.

I truly believe the best writers are the ones who have a gift of acting. And while you might not feel you are talented in that way, I do believe you can train yourself to be. If you’re not the type that likes to psychoanalyze yourself or others, this is going to be harder for you than for some other authors.

Don’t Get Stuck in Left-Brain Tendencies

I notice a lot of my editing clients struggle with this. These are the writers who tend to be left-brain analytical. They might work as CPAs and computer programmers (not to stereotype here or say people with these vocations can’t immerse themselves in character). But they’re the kind of thinker that sees plot at the crux of story, and they often have a hard time feeling what their characters feel. They approach their fictional characters logically and practically, writing out long descriptions of who they are, their background, their hobbies and interests, their goals.

Which is all well and good. But to get past the surface of plot and structure and get deep into story, it really requires getting deep into characters.

Read the full post on Live Write Thrive

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Quick Links: Novel Research: 12 Ways to Ace Your Book

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Getting your facts straight in your story is more important than ever. Everyone is an instant expert since checking out information is as easy as googling on your phone. You know if someone finds an error, it will find it’s way onto your reviews. This makes storytelling much harder for authors and highlights how important it is to make sure you research your story details.  Thankfully K.M. Weiland at Helping Writers Become Authors has a great article on researching facts. What’s your favorite research tip?

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Novel Research: 12 Ways to Ace Your Book

April 10, 2016

Who What Why When Where Signpost Showing Confusion Brainstorming And Researchby K.M. Weiland

I’m starting to get paranoid. It happens with every book I write. I reach the end of the first draft, start tying off loose ends on the first round of edits, and prepare to send the book to my first round of beta readers. That’s when I inevitably start asking myself panicked questions about the accuracy of of my novel research.

Maybe these self-directed questions will sound familiar:

  • What if my novel research isn’t good enough?
  • What if I put a street on the wrong side of the city?
  • What if I’ve got the dialect all wrong?
  • What if I’ve included a glaring anachronism?

The book I’m currently at work on—my historical superhero saga Wayfarer—is set in London during the Regency era (think Jane Austen). In many ways, it has been the most difficult of all the historical novels I’ve written, primarily because it takes place in such a popular period. I had some leeway in writing about the medieval Crusades (for one thing, the language is so different, perfect accuracy isn’t desired much less demanded) and the American west (where legend has taken over fact in so many areas).

But the Regency period? Put a chapeau-bras out of place, and fanatical readers will know it.

Never mind that the book is also set in London, which means correctly portraying a city I’ve never visited.

And don’t get me started on the language. Unlike the Middle Ages, 1820 isn’t so far away that the language of the period isn’t still decipherable to modern ears. What that means, of course, is every word choice must be filtered through not just the demands of British English, but also the question: Did that word even exist back then?

Cue the paranoia.

The Two Sides to Novel Research: Accuracy and Authenticity

There are two good reasons for any author to indulge in this paranoia over “the facts” in a novel (whether it’s historical or not).

Reason #1 to Panic: Your Readers Are Smarter Than You

Scary thought, ain’t it? Now granted, not all of them are going to be smarter (aka, better read on your subject than are you). But I guarantee there will be a lot of them. No matter how conscientious you are in your research about Roman sewer systems or stamp collecting, there will always be someone who knows something you don’t. And if that person happens to read your book, they may well call you out on your mistakes.

Read the full post on Helping Writers Become Authors

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Quick Link: Writer vs Storyteller

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Are you a writer who is also a storyteller or a storyteller who happens to be a writer. Normally these questions give me a headache, because life is messy and I don’t fit in one or the other category. When I write, I am a pantser with an outline. After reading the post on Writer Unboxed by , I am most definitely a storyteller. Well, maybe I am a writer. Head on over and check the article out and let us know which you are.

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Writer vs Storyteller

open book of family storyby Jo Eberhardt

There are hundreds (possibly thousands) of essays and articles online attempting to differentiate between writers who tell stories and storytellers who write books. Many people will say that it doesn’t matter; that it’s all semantics. Which led me to wonder…. is it?

As polarising controversies go, it’s not a very big one. I mean, it doesn’t rate up there with “Pantser vs. Plotter” or “Literature vs. Genre” or “Self Pub vs. Trad. Pub” or whatever the cool kids are arguing about these days. Nonetheless, it’s a topic that comes up from time to time.

What are writers and storytellers?

Chances are, when you read the title of this essay, one of those terms resonated with you. Maybe you consider yourself a writer. Maybe you consider yourself a storyteller. Maybe you consider yourself both. Or neither. But before we start talking about the difference between them, what do the terms even mean?

Writer
Let’s move past the simple definition of “a writer writes” and look at what the title of writer actually means. Without going all dictionary-phile on you, let’s define a writer as someone whose purpose is to write books, poems, stories, or articles. A writer is someone for whom the art of writing is paramount — grammar, word use, punctuation, etc — and knowledge of that craft is used to record stories, be they fact or fiction, through the media of written words.

Storyteller
We can define a storyteller as someone whose purpose is to tell stories, whether they be fact or fiction, for the purpose of entertainment and/or illumination. A storyteller is someone for whom the art of storytelling is paramount — character, tension, climax, personal growth, etc. — and knowledge of that craft is used to tell stories through whatever medium will best reach their intended audience. Which, in the modern day, is often writing.

But it’s not that simple…

Read the full post on Writer Unboxed

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Quick Link: 5 Common Writing Fears and How to Overcome Them

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

So what is your biggest writing fear? Mine is common, I struggle with believing in my writing and myself. So taking over Publetariat for April was a good step for me. I knew how much the site meant to April, and how much I had enjoyed it. This is a labor of love that helped me push through the fear.  goes through some of the common fears writers face and how to get through them on Live Write Breath. Do you have a fear you have conquered? Let us know!

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5 Common Writing Fears and How to Overcome Them

Janalyn Voigt

5 Common Writing Fears: Writing Creativity Killers, Part 1

Frustrated man with hands on faceIf you’ve been writing for any length of time, you’ve probably figured out that having a writing career is not for the faint of heart. It takes courage to bare your soul in a manuscript, only to face the possibility of rejection and criticism.  And then, there are the inner writing fears. What if you fail? What if you succeed? What if______. As a writer, you’re creative enough to fill in the blank.

With writing fears, the very thing that is your strength becomes your downfall–your imagination. It may comfort you to know that, at one time or another, most writers have felt the fears listed below. In fact, writing fear is so common, I put it first in this series on writing creativity killers.I come at this from the perspective of someone who had to overcome both fear of failure and fear of success in my writing career and who has faced all five writing fears covered in this post.

Fear of Failure

You want to write your book, send that proposal, ask to guest post, but somehow you never quite get around to it. Something holds you back. Your writing dream is so important you’re afraid to even try to attain it. What if you fail? That will mean you aren’t the writer you thought you were.

I know from agents and editors at writing conferences that only a small percentage of writers invited to submit will ever do so.  The odds seem overwhelming. The bookstore shelves are already full of books, so who would want yours, anyway? If you don’t try, you won’t have to fail.

Ah, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know if you could have succeeded. Don’t let a lack of self-confidence hold you back. Here are some ways to boost your self-esteem as a writer:

Read the full post on Live Write Breath

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: How Do I Hate Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

Scott Reintgen, (@Scott_Thought) at Fiction University gives an in depth discussion on what makes a great antagonist.  Every story needs a problem for your main character to deal with, usually involving conflict. A great antagonist not only will help tell your tale, but will showcase your main character and allow them to evolve.  As one of my t-shirts says “every great story needs a great villain.”

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How Do I Hate Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

Tuesday, March 22

By Scott Reintgen, @Scott_Thought

Two angry men with crumpled paperPart of the How They Do It Series

Great antagonists make great stories, but not every bad guy is the “bad guy” of a tale. Sometimes it’s all a matter of perspective, and what gets in the way ultimately makes you stronger. Visiting the lecture hall today is Scott Reintgen (It’s pronounced Rankin) to share some thoughts on how antagonists work with a story’s conflict to produce delightful results. Today is actually his wedding anniversary, so congratulations to Scott and his wife, and best wishes to happy couple.

Scott was always a back-row dreamer. As early as kindergarten, teachers noticed his tendency to stare out of classroom windows and disappear to more interesting elsewheres. Convinced he would one day be a writer, Scott spent most of college and graduate school investing in the world of literature. This eventually led to a career teaching English and Creative Writing in North Carolina. He strongly believes that every student who steps into his classroom has the right to see themselves, vibrant and victorious and on the page. It’s his hope to encourage a future full of diverse writers. As he’s fond of reminding his students, “You have a story to tell and you’re the only one who can tell it.”

As for his own writing, Scott continues to follow in the footsteps of his favorite authors. It was Tolkien who once wrote, “The fairy gold (too often) turns to withered leaves when it is brought away. All I can ask is that you, knowing all these things, will receive my withered leaves, as a token at least that my hand once held a little of the gold.” And Scott hopes his books are a trail of withered leaves that might lead readers to the bright elsewheres through which he constantly finds himself wandering.

He currently lives in North Carolina with his wife, Katie, and family. His novel The Black Hole of Broken Things comes out in 2017 by Crown Children’s.

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Take it away Scott…  

One of the most universal truths in life? Things are against you.

Life is full of conflict. There are things that are trying to stop you, people that are trying to stop you, and sometimes even you are trying to stop you. Stories are no different. When you read a great book, you expect there to be some serious conflict. In fact, my students have voted conflict as the number one answer to, “What makes a good story?” three years in a row now.

So if conflict is expected and important, how we write our antagonists becomes central to writing a good story with a good protagonist. I use a pretty simple method for keeping up with my antagonists. It’s the same one I teach to my students. It’s called the threefold method.

Read the full post on Fiction University

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.