How to Outline Your Novel in 5 Steps
Each writer has their own process. Some writers (often called pantsers) believe that outlining their novel limits their creativity, while others require […]
How to Write an Effective Resolution
All stories must eventually come to a conclusion, or “resolution.” As an author, your job is to ensure that the plot threads […]
Exposition: “Where should my story begin?”
For some writers, just getting the story started is the toughest part. There’s so much you want to say, but you have […]
What is Rising Action? How to Elevate Your Plot
Rising action refers to the series of events that lead from a story’s inciting incident to the climax. In this article, we […]
What is an Inciting Incident? The Story Moment That Changes Everything
With storytelling, if your reader isn’t engaged within the first few chapters, you run the risk of losing their attention. So, what […]
Falling Action: The Bridge Between Climax and Resolution
What happens after a story’s climactic moment? What comes after the protagonist wins the girl, or defeats the bully, or triumphs over […]
How to Write a Compelling Climax
The climax. This is the moment your reader has been waiting for. They’ve spent hours immersed in your story, falling in love […]
Story: A Journey of Self-Discovery
Story is always a journey of self-discovery “The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates Embarking on a creative endeavor, especially […]
The Value of an Outline
What’s the point of an outline? Whether consciously or not, every writer is in search of a process. A lot of writers […]
The Necessity of an Outline
“The outline is 95% of the book. Then I sit down to write, and that’s the easy part.” – Jefferey Deaver Many […]
Permission to Write Your Truth
What is the Truth of your story? OK, you’ve outlined your story and you’re getting ready to write your first draft. But […]
Outlining: The Dramatic Question
Your characters are a function of the plot, archetypes that constellate around the dramatic question. Story is essentially an argument with the […]
Blind Spots in Your Story
It is human to have blind spots, and often convenient to be in denial about certain aspects of ourselves. This is natural, […]
What Happens Next?
The first step in creating a fully alive story is imagining the world. This simply means envisioning your characters in relation to […]
Story Structure as an Experiential Model
There is a structure to the universe. From the smallest atom to the forces that move the planets, there is a universal […]
Story Structure
Story structure is often taught by story analysts as plot, but it is really the DNA of our protagonist’s internal journey to […]
