When Do You Introduce Backstory? — This came up twice in the past week, once in a blog, once with a coaching client, which made me think, “Clearly EVERY WRITER IN THE WORLD IS DEALING WITH THIS ISSUE,” so I thought I’d do a little post about it. A Question To Ask When trying to decide if you really need…

Plot Isn’t About Plot Writers spend a lot of time plotting. It may be when we first start writing — or even before we start :eyes plotters with an envious gaze: Or it might be 50% (or 100%) of the way through, when we stop writing ‘hot,’ look back over the story, and realize…

Ever write a story where the secondary characters take over? Struggle to pin down a clear arc of change for your protagonist? Got a lackluster Act III? Have a plot that doesn’t push the right buttons? …

Last time we talked about how every scene has an implicit question related to whether the character will get what they want. This is how you build tension, which is the key to powerful storytelling, whether it’s fiction, non-fiction, or any other kind of story. The Questions… A brief refresher on Scene…

Actually, three questions! Every good scene implicitly plants a story question, then answers it. The ‘questions’ fall into one of three realms, or axes, but at its core, the question is always: “Will they get it?” The Three Axes (Can we all agree the plural of ‘axis’ should be ‘axises’? …

Even in a pet shop in the dark of night… Today I have kittens and puppies for your happiness. Also…for Story! I’m going to show you how tension works. First, the kittens and puppies…. Kitty On A Mission Here’s our story. Check it out. Tension Is Story Any time we’re invested in someone (such as a…

I just discovered you can clap more than once for a Medium article on purpose. The first time I double clapped, I thought, “omg, I broke Medium.” My second was that maybe my VPN wasn’t delivering its packets of veiled information fast enough, and Medium hadn’t yet caught up with…

In every story, your characters are fighting the giant. You know the story of David and Goliath? The under-equipped, outmatched underdog going out to fight the dominant, stronger, more powerful opponent? At its core, this is what fiction is all about. Fighting the giant. Storming the castle. The ‘giant’ is the thing we can never win against. The thing…

So…let’s talk Game of Thrones…. The first episode of the last season aired last night, and I was…underwhelmed. Seriously underwhelmed. If you haven’t watched it yet, look away. I admit, I had high expectations, and too-high expectations can make even tiramisu taste meh (what??) so I accounted for that. Producers…