Helping Writers Become Authors

If your story suffers from cardboard characters, it probably also suffers from plot contrivances. Good news: if you fix one, you fix both.

In many ways, the New Normal World of a story's Resolution is what successfully completes the context of the entire story.

The Underworld of a Story's Third Act is symbolically important for creating powerful and realistic change with your characters and plot.

Writers can use the metaphoric Adventure World of a story's Second Act to better understand this crucial part of story structure.

Authors need to understand the four "worlds" represented within a story's structure, the first of which is the Normal World of the First Act.

If you want to deepen the complexity of your story's theme, one tool you can employ is Robert McKee's thematic square.

Use these six ways to find your best ideas for writing your book, as you cultivate, channel, and honor your deeper inspiration.

Examines the role of the antagonist in the second half of a story's structure--the Second Pinch Point through the Resolution.

The major plot beats in a story are interwoven with the protagonist's journey. But what is the role of the antagonist in story structure?

Should writers make it a habit to write every day? Here are five pros of writing every day, as well as five potential cons.

Writing a second novel can often be surprisingly harder than the first one. Check out six challenges sophomore writers often face.

Ask these important questions to make sure the passage of time in a story is strengthening rather than weakening its narrative power.

Here are six important considerations to keep in mind when amping up your story's most important scenes--its set-piece scenes.

The question of "how to know when you're a successful author?" offers some obvious answers--and yet the subject is far more complex.

When should you take a break from writing? And once you've taken that step, what in heaven's name are you going to do with yourself?

Creating an amazing supporting cast that can offer important relationship dynamics in fiction will also help develop your protagonist.

Learn how archetypes and story structure mirror each other in any individual book and can be used to further strengthen your story.

Here are a five important questions you, as a writer of fiction, can ask yourself to help you in making story structure your own.

There's nothing incorrect in using confrontation to create conflict in fiction. But to understand conflict as only confrontation is too narrow a definition.

Learn how to increase the health and effectiveness of the writer's inner critic while diminishing toxic effects.

Here are this writer's New Year reflections, focusing on six "gifts" I gave myself and why I believe they were profoundly life-changing.

The two halves of the Climactic Moment require the story's final sequence to offer two very specific beats: Sacrifice and Victory/Failure.

The two halves of the Third Plot Point work together to create a scene arc that moves from the False Victory to the Low Moment.

The halves of the Midpoint are unique in story structure in that they mark the dividing line between the two halves of the entire story arc.

The First Plot Point is often referred to as a threshold, a visual metaphor representing the native two-sidedness of all structural beats.

A series examining the two important "halves" in each of story structure's major beats, beginning with the Inciting Event in the First Act.

Find out what defines repetitive scenes, as well as strategies for recognizing and avoiding them in your fiction.

The archetypal antagonists for the Mage Arc often manifest subtly--not  in obvious "evil," but in an ordinary person's weakness.

The archetypal antagonists for the Crone Arc are represented as a Death Blight and as the subtle Tempter who would lure her from the Truth.

The archetypal antagonists for the King Arc are the Cataclysm and the Rebel, both of which challenge the King to culminate his rule.

Usually the archetypal antagonists for a Queen Arc are represented by the Invader in the outer conflict and the Empty Throne in the inner conflict.

The antagonists for the Hero Arc can be seen archetypally as both the Dragon and the Sick King.

The antagonists for the Maiden Arc can be seen archetypally as both her Authority Figures and a frightening Predator.

How can you tell what your story's premise is telling readers? Here are four questions you can ask about your story's premise.

A series looking at the archetypal antagonists inherent within each of the six main archetypal "life arcs."

The tremendous (but sometimes misunderstood) significance of the Climactic Moment in the ending of a story.

The role of the antagonist varies depending on the nature of the protagonist's character arc.

Should you edit as you go? The best choice has much to do with a writer's personality, strengths, weaknesses, and even lifestyle demands.

The world needs us all to be writers and creators. It needs the next Pulitzer winner, and it needs the scribbled poem forgotten on a napkin in a cafe.

How can you apply archetypal character arcs in a practical way to your own stories? Here are five considerations for choosing archetypes.

The final Flat archetype of the Mentor is one of the most significant within human storytelling.

The Flat archetype of the Elder provides crucial guidance for enacting important change in surrounding characters.

The Flat archetype of the Ruler represents the potential period in a person's life in which he or she is in a position of leadership.

We don't often think of the Flat archetype of the Parent with the same enthusiasm as we do the Hero. And yet they are intrinsically linked.

A deeply nuanced archetype that evolves with us for most of our lives, the Flat archetype of the Lover is inherent and integral.

The archetype of the Child is necessarily an archetype of deep vulnerability and surprisingly powerful impact upon other characters.

Flat archetypes are often seen teaching other characters some of the same lessons they just learned in their own previously completed arcs.

Will the character triumph--or succumb in the end to the powerful temptations of either of the Mage's shadow archetypes, the Miser or the Sorcerer?

If the character cannot powerfully transition into the final act of life, the risk is that of sliding into the Crone's shadow archetypes.

Whether this powerful character brings life to the Kingdom depends on if he is in the grip of the King's shadow archetypes of Puppet and Tyrant.

The Queen’s shadows have the potential to block her possibility for a positively transformative archetypal character arc.