How to Be a Better Storyteller (A Margot Robbie Master Class)
When Margot Robbie held the SmartLess podcast hosts in the palm of her hand during a recent interview as she…
Analyzing Story
Writers: Dissect Your DNFs
It’s tempting, with a DNF, to simply close the book and move along to the next one in your TBR…
Can AI Edit Your Book?
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. Last week my husband sent me this…
Don’t Be Afraid to Go Big
Don’t be afraid to try things–even things that may seem far, far out of the box. You’re not always writing…
Using Formula without Being Formulaic
Most creatives don’t set out to regurgitate remade versions of stories that have been told before. We want to boldly…
How to Create Tension without Overt Conflict
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. I have a confession to make: I…
Analysis: How Storytelling Makes the Story
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. My roommate when I lived in New…
Character Stakes: The Key to Making Readers Care
Stakes are crucial to story, one of the central legs of the holy trinity of character plot and stakes, because…
How Backstory Creates Story, Part 2: Building Forward
You can “build forward” in your writing to create fully integrated characters and stories: begin with what you already have…
How Backstory Creates Story, Part 1: Mining Backward
Both Succession’s creators and the uniformly brilliant actors who portray the Roys and their vicious little circle of cronies take…