Learning Story Beats Through Audiobooks

I’ve been listening to a lot of audiobooks lately, and through listening I’ve come to a better understanding of story beats. In reading, because it takes me so long or because I’m just not paying attention to the length of the story or where I’m at, I struggle to notice similarities in stories regarding story...

Story Basics: Plot

I think it's important for everyone to at least know a few basics about their plot before they start writing. It greatly helps the writing process and how your writing flows, particularly in drafting but also in editing. One very important thing to know from the start is your genre! Each genre has its own...

Three Act Structure and The Lord Of The Rings

The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the clearest examples of the three act structure, which is the base of effective storytelling. Three act structure is the structure used in all of storytelling, in novel writing, scripts or films, and short stories. Every story you can think of most likely follows...

NaNo Help: Plot

Characters may be the most important thing in writing (at least in my opinion), but plot is literally what stories are about. Plot is the backbone of a story, and without a plot you don't really have much. Plot is what pushes your characters forward, its what keeps the story moving, and gives it purpose....

Preptober!!

Today is the first day of October, and for those of us who are doing NaNoWriMo, that means the start of Preptober! You may be wondering what Preptober is, because you've never heard of it before. I hadn't heard of it until last year either. Preptober is the month before NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month,...

Outlining: Why, How, and My Method

There are three different types of writers, the plotters, the plansters, and the pantsers. Each one writes theirs stories in a different way. Plotters plot out their story before they start writing, so they have a clear path they can take when working through their novel. Pantsers have no plan, they write by the seat...

Trusting Your Creative Muse And When To Get Feedback

I see it all the time. People thinking their pacing is too fast, or too slow, but not trusting themselves on this feeling. Or asking other what they should do with a character because they want to do this one thing but they're not sure if it's the right move. But here's the thing. It's...

Burnout VS. Writer’s Block

Writers block and creative burnout are two entirely different things, although they often both have the same effect on you, or so you think. They keep you from writing. And you want to be writing. But because they are two different things, they require different solutions. Writer's Block Writer's block is generally defined as being...

Generating Story Ideas

I have far more story ideas than I know what to do with, and it took me a while to realize not every person is like this. So what do I do to constantly be coming up with and developing new ideas for books, series, screenplays, and short stories? 1: I'm Always Looking I go...

How To Get Faster At Writing

For a while now, I've been working on getting faster at writing, and I've drastically improved. I've gone from struggling to write 500 words an hour, to being able to write 1000 words in half and hour, all in the matter of a few months. How did I get faster at writing? Well, there are...