Conflict and Desire in Stories
It has been said often enough that stories are about conflict. Story structure is the tool to use to articulate that conflict and that eventually plays out in your plot with scenes and emotional values. But it’s easy to just get lost in all that those little details if you don’t have an inkling of […]
Deciding what to Include?
Probably the most daunting problem you face when writing a story is what details to include. Often your notes and initial inspiration will yield hundreds of little details that you want somewhere in the story but aren’t not sure exactly where they fit. There are a couple ways to solve this problem. Understand that it’s […]
4 Story Ingredients
Ok Imagine this: A beautiful Japanese spy is sent a Versace dress in a box. In it is an invitation and the instructions for her mission. It says she should wear the dress to the party and infiltrate the upper VIP level where the mark she has to kill sits. This dramatic situation came out […]
Managing Story Ideas
A lot of ideas will come at you while writing. Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, the challenge is to collect, process and structure that information so that it serves the story. You could leave it in your head, but consider the world we live in today. The information age has changed the nature of […]
Finding easy topics for books
So you want to write a book, upload it Amazon or something, and need a good topic to write about? You’ll get a much more productive answer by rephrasing that question. Try, for instance, what can I write about that adds value to others? Notice how shifting the focus charges your quest with experience. […]