Doubt lives in each of us. We are unsure about our futures, our relationships, our new tile in the bathroom, our car insurance, etc. Doubt is the cradle of conflict, both internal and external. In the …
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Make it Dramatic
“Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” - Alfred Hitchcock The movement of a story happens as the result of complications that arise, not out of plot, but out of character and theme. As our …
Everything You Need to Know is Within
"If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act." - Billy Wilder The purpose of story is to reveal a transformation. This shift in perception means a sort of death …
Act One: Maintaining Tension
“A writer writes not because he is educated but because he is driven by the need to communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be …
The End of the Story Informs the Beginning
In Steven Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he states: “Begin with the end in mind.” For first-time writers, this is helpful advice. But let’s clarify. When we talk about “the …
3 Secrets for Getting Started On Writing Your First Novel
Every writer struggles with getting the story from imagination to the page. The first-time novelist confronts the special challenge of having never done this before. Here are three quick tips to …
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Shedding the Idea for Truth in Writing
It’s not just first-time novelists or screenwriters that struggle with getting their story from the imagination to the page. Every writer struggles with this. Here’s the thing: Our idea of our …
Writing for Our Ideal Reader
Good storytelling is about having at least a somewhat conscious relationship to our ideal reader, and telling the story in the most compelling way possible. It is about understanding the most …
Writing Act Three: Our Hero Accepts the Reality of His Situation
It can be frightening and exhilarating to realize that our story is bigger than we are, that in fact, it does not “belong” to us, that we are simply a channel. In Act Three of our story, our hero …
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“What do I do when I get stuck in my story?”
When writers come to a dead stop there can be a tendency to panic. It’s important to remember that our idea of our story is never the whole story. When we try to figure it out, we tend to dig a …