Welcome to my ten-part series where we’ll be going through the ten basics of storytelling as outlined in my guidebook The 10 Lost Elements of Storytelling – a book you can get for free by subscribing to my newsletter! In these posts, we’ll be going over the basics of these storytelling elements, but my guidebook is more detailed … Continue reading Why Your Book Will Fail Without Good Characters: Basic Storytelling Elements Part 3
how to write
Voice, Tone, and Mood – Are They the Same?
Want to help me get a new desk chair? Check out the details in the donation box below the post and read my stories on Vocal! You don't want to be confused about this. Understanding voice, tone, and mood is essential to crafting a meaningful story. To be honest, I probably should have made this post … Continue reading Voice, Tone, and Mood – Are They the Same?
Capturing a Mood in Writing
Want to help me get a new desk chair? Check out the details in the donation box below the post and read my stories on Vocal! "I have a mood I want to write about, but I don't know where to start. How do I even get a plot from that?!" You have no idea how … Continue reading Capturing a Mood in Writing
3 Tabs I Always Have Open
Project Pea word count: 13,063 I hardly ever have more than one tab open. I'd call myself a fairly disorganised person most of the time, and yet when it comes to certain things like internet tabs, I can't stand keeping more than one thing open at a time. I just about explode every time my … Continue reading 3 Tabs I Always Have Open
Resisting Excessive Exposition
Today is July 1st, which means - you guessed it - my new book is finally out!!! If you love fantasy adventures, awesome friendships, dragons, treehouses, or all of the above, I think you'll really enjoy this exciting story. You can get it today right here! You're happily typing away, your favourite writing music playing … Continue reading Resisting Excessive Exposition
The Top 5 Grammar and Style Mistakes That Writers Make
We all know about my love for writing, but I rarely ever talk about my editing work. It's probably something I should talk about more because editing gives me so much insight into writing. It also allows me to work closely with other writers and help them grow. My goal as an editor is to … Continue reading The Top 5 Grammar and Style Mistakes That Writers Make
The Writing Process (Part 3)
If you're not caught up on my writing process series, you can start with this post here! As a quick recap, I've been taking you all on a journey through how I write stories. In the first post, I showed you how I come up with details before I write the story. In the second … Continue reading The Writing Process (Part 3)
In the beginning…
The beginning of a book is crucial to its success. Not only does it matter to agents and publishers, but it also matters to the readers. After a few pages, most readers will have made up their minds about whether or not they like your book. And the chances are, if they aren't impressed, they'll … Continue reading In the beginning…
Writing Pet Peeves: Incorrect Speaker Tags
Is it just me, or does it drive anyone else crazy when a writer uses incorrect speaker tags? We use speaker tags for two reasons. First and foremost, we use them to indicate who is speaking. The secondary—but not strictly necessary—function is to indicate how the dialogue is being spoken. What a speaker tag does … Continue reading Writing Pet Peeves: Incorrect Speaker Tags