by Piper Bayard of Bayard & Holmes

Many genres involve characters who at some point experience fear, and it is common for them to want to hide in their homes. Everything from creepy shadows, to hang up calls, to ominous social media posts or threats by mobsters can have our characters holing up. … Read the post

You sit down to write but no words come. Or you grind out a few dozen or hundreds of words, then delete them all because the structure wasn’t there or the characters weren’t right or the sentences were crap. You bemoan the fact that writing is hard and you think maybe this writing gig isn’t for you.… Read the post

by Becca Puglisi 

Conflict in every scene. 

It’s popular advice because it’s true. Conflict ratchets up the tension for readers because it makes the character’s success less likely, and readers start worrying about the hero’s ability to win. Will she find true love?… Read the post

By Margie Lawson

Want to write four or more books per year?

You can still use many of my deep editing techniques!

Writing one book a year?

You can use more of my deep editing techniques!

Deep Editing

In this blog post I’ll share three of the 3749 deep edit goodies I teach writers to use.… Read the post

By Janice Hardy

You might be missing opportunities to make your conflicts stronger. 

Conflict is one of those terms frequently used as a catch-all for compelling storytelling, when it’s really just one aspect of what makes a strong story. We use it even though we really mean the scene needs a clearer goal, or more tension, or a better character arc, but saying “this scene needs more conflict” sums it up in a convenient—if confusing—way.… Read the post