Ever heard of the grief cycle? Most of us have, and all of us have experienced it. According to Kubler-Ross, there are five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Formerly, the thought was that we cycle through these feelings one after the...
When you scroll through Pinterest or Instagram looking for ways to strengthen your characters, you may run into this common piece of advice: Give your character a quirk. According to dictionary.com, a quirk is a “peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality.” A...
“I want to hook my readers from the first sentence.” That’s something I hear A LOT, especially from new writers. It makes sense: readers want something to draw them into the story, and you want to deliver. But let me ask you this…what is the first line of the book...
If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know that I believe genre guides every decision you make while writing your story. This is especially true when it comes to fulfilling the Five Requirements and finding your controlling theme. Have any of these go...
Understanding point of view (POV) and perspective can help your characters and your story come to life. The terms are used interchangeably, but I’m here to tell you they aren’t the same thing. Let’s first define POV. According to...
