By Julie Glover

A couple of weeks ago, I finished drafting the final novel in my YA contemporary series. Once I edit and release Pairing Anton, I’ll be ready for the next project. Which is…what? I don’t know yet.

Perhaps you’ve faced a similar dilemma, wondering what to write next—usually for one of two reasons.

Out of Fresh Ideas

Some writers pour themselves into the book they’re writing, reach the end, and face a blank slate in their mind. They need a break between books to observe the world around them, let the wheels turn in their heads, and come up with a fresh idea.

Here are some ways to come up with a great one:

Ask “what if”?

Stephen King encourages this approach in his popular book, On Writing. His ideas are a bit wilder than some, such as “What if vampires invaded a small New England village?” (Salem's Lot) and “What if a young mother and her son become trapped in their stalled car by a rabid dog?” (Cujo), but the notion is solid.

Your “what if” could be about a single person, a community, or the whole world. Here are some classic movie examples to show what I mean:

• What if you had to relive the same day again and again until you got it right? (Groundhog Day)
• What if a killer shark preyed on a small beach town? (Jaws)
• What if artificial intelligence took over? (The Terminator)

Create your own imaginative what-if, and you’ll have a compelling idea to work with!

Combine contrasting things.

Suzanne Collins came up with The Hunger Games by blending two opposite events: “I was flipping through the channels one night between reality television programs and actual footage of the Iraq War, when the idea came to me.” Contestants in one, soldiers in the other—mix and voila!, kids compete in a life-and-death game.

The first book in my YA series, Sharing Hunter, also used this approach. I was thinking about dating advice given to teen girls and then how huge shows like Big Love and Sister Wives had become. Next thing I know, I had the idea of two best friends sharing a boyfriend.

Take two things that don’t seem to go together and test out whether they might. If a combination strikes you as exciting, that might be your next book!

Watch and listen to people.

Tayari Jones was partly inspired to write An American Marriage after visiting her mother in Atlanta and overhearing a couple arguing. She explained, “I couldn’t get these people out of my head.” From there, she wrote her bestseller about a marriage torn apart by a wrongful conviction of one spouse.

Writers are, by nature, people watchers and eavesdroppers. Why? Because people are interesting and inspire stories without knowing it. So keep your eyes open, your ears peeled, and your pen ready.

Look wider in the world.

At any given time, numerous social issues can be explored through story. Alicia Ellis tackled today’s artificial intelligence concerns with her Flesh and Metalseries, Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, and Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry addressed sexism in the 1960s (and, let’s face it, beyond). Classics like Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and George Orwell’s 1984 also wrestled with social issues of their time.

Consider what’s bugging you today. Maybe that issue could be the focus of your next book. 

Twist another story.

How many times has the basic plot of Romeo and Juliet been copied? Who knows, but it’s a lot. For instance, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong retells Romeo and Juliet in 1920s Shanghai, A Hope Divided by Alyssa Cole depicts a star-crossed-lovers romance between a black woman and a Union soldier during the US Civil War, and Twilight by Stephenie Meyer essentially replaces Capulets and Montagues with humans and vampires.

Take someone else’s idea, twist it, and you’ll get a fresh plot! Honestly, that’s what Shakespeare did too. He often borrowed from others and built on it to create an original work. Good enough for the Bard? Good enough for you.

Too Many Ideas, Not Enough Time

Some writers have more ideas than they can write in a lifetime. How can you decide which ideas get the red flag, and which get the go-ahead?

Here are a few questions to ask:

What are your readers waiting for? It might be okay to pause and do something different, but If you have an established audience, you don’t want to keep them waiting too long for the next installment in your series or genre.

What needs to get wrapped up? Speaking of which, perhaps you should tie up the genre or series you’ve been writing before taking on a new project. Prioritizing the completion of your current body of work can free you up to fully concentrate on the next grand idea.

What do you have the time and energy for? Maybe writing the medieval family epic you’d love to pen isn’t the best choice for your crazy calendar, but you could probably knock out the shorter, lighthearted rom-com. Consider what your life will allow right now and lean toward projects you can actually finish.

What won’t let you go? Is there an idea that won’t leave you alone? Maybe it’s a plot idea you had, a first draft you wrote, or a half-finished manuscript tucked away somewhere. For various reasons, you haven’t completed it, but the project is like an earworm in your mind—unwilling to let go. That might mean it’s time to tackle it.

What do friends or colleagues tell you to write? Of course, you shouldn’t write whatever others tell you to. Rather, come up with what you want to write, narrow your list, and then get input from people you trust. It could be friends, family, critique partners, or writing colleagues, but they likely have valuable feedback worth your attention.

As for me, I’m in the too-many-ideas camp, but two potentials have been calling out to me the most. So I’m delivering the first chapters of each project to my critique group for their input.

What should you write next? Only you can make that decision. But hopefully, you’ve gotten a few ideas for how to solve the dilemma.

Do you ever wonder what to write next?
How do you decide?

About Julie

Julie Glover is an award-winning author of young adult and mystery fiction. Her contemporary YA includes Sharing Hunter, Daring Charlotte, and coming-soon, Pairing Anton, and she has written several YA paranormal stories. She has also co-authored five supernatural suspense novels and two short stories in the mythology-based Muse Island series under her pen name Jules Lynn.

With her coauthor, Christina Delay, she recently published Together, We Write: An Author's Complete Guide to Cowriting, currently available as an e-book and soon coming out in print.

A native of Texas, she now lives in Denton with her hottie husband, her loquacious cat, and her large collection of cowgirl boots.

Photo credit: Konstantin Postumitenko, Prostock-studio @Canva; Professor25, Getty Images Pro @Canva

By Sarah (Sally) Hamer

We all want to write stories that people remember. But what makes a story memorable? I believe that legendary books, ones that live on for years, have one major similarity, the transformation of a character. It’s like a character arc is magic, taking the imperfect human as a lump of clay and crafting it into a breathtakingly beautiful vase. We’ve all seen it happen, probably even written that arc ourselves. So, how did we get there and get there again?

One of the most powerful ways to craft such an arc is to take what seems like a “negative” trait, whether fear or stubbornness or arrogance or naivety, and show how, through struggle and growth, that trait becomes a strength. We’re not trying to erase the flaw. It’s the basis of who the character is. It means reframing it, tempering it, and allowing it to evolve into a gift. And, hopefully, turn it into legend.

Why Negative Traits Matter

In my editing and teaching, I often find writers who refuse to be mean to their characters. “But I love them!” is a common excuse. LOL! But, if we want our readers to love them, they can’t be perfect from page one. Dull! Boring! It’s the cracks in a character’s armor that let the light in.

A negative trait is not just a weakness—it’s a seed of potential. Stubbornness can become perseverance. Arrogance can soften into confidence. Fear can sharpen into wisdom. And, interestingly enough, when you design a character arc around this transformation, you give readers a mirror for their own lives. We all know what it feels like to wrestle with our shadows. Watching a character redeem theirs is deeply satisfying. It gives us hope that we can transform our lives too.

The Framework of Transformation

1. Show the Harm – Early in the story, let the negative trait cause problems. Readers need to see why it’s unsustainable.
2. Introduce Pressure – Place the character in situations where the trait is tested and its limits are revealed.
3. Reframe the Trait – Through failure, loss, or revelation, the character begins to see the trait differently.
4. Culminate in Choice – The climax should hinge on the character using the “redeemed” version of the trait to succeed.

Remember, the harder the journey, especially one filled with emotional “danger,” the more the transformation feels earned.

Case Study: The Fearful Heroine

Let’s bring this to life with a concrete example. Imagine a young heroine named Elira, living in 18th‑century Europe. She begins her story in poverty, defined by fear, and ends it as a woman of courage and responsibility.

Act I: The Silent Girl

Elira grows up in a rural hamlet, where survival depends on invisibility. She lowers her eyes when tax collectors ride through, hides when soldiers pass, and avoids speaking her mind. Fear is her shield. It keeps her safe but also keeps her small.

When her village is raided, she is taken to the city as a servant in a wealthy household. She believes she has no power, only the duty to obey. Her fear deepens: in this new world, a wrong word could mean punishment or worse.

Act II: The Crucible of Power

In the city, Elira witnesses cruelty and corruption. She sees fellow servants beaten, townsfolk starved, and the casual brutality of the elite. Her fear intensifies.

She is ordered to carry messages and overhear conversations. Her silence protects her, but it also harms others. When a friend suffers because she stayed quiet, Elira realizes her fear is no longer protecting her, now it is betraying her values and she feels guilty about not acting.

This is the turning point. She begins to see that fear is not only a chain but also a compass. It sharpens her awareness, helps her notice details others miss, and warns her of danger. If she can learn to act with fear rather than against it, she might find a new kind of strength.

Act III: From Fear to Fire

When unrest boils over—a food shortage, a rebellion, or a conspiracy—Elira must decide whether to remain silent or act. She chooses to act.

Her fear guides her to move carefully, to plan, to notice the cracks in the system. She uses her memory and insight to pass information, smuggle food, or warn townsfolk. What once paralyzed her now makes her wise and strategic.

In the climax, she risks her life to reveal the truth. Her courage is not the absence of fear but the decision to act in spite of it.

Resolution: The Steward of Voices

Elira’s actions save lives and shift the balance of power. She is no longer the voiceless girl from the village but a trusted witness and advisor. She still feels fear, but now it walks beside her as an ally.

The final image: she stands before a gathering, her voice steady, carrying across the square. The girl who once hid in shadows now speaks for many.

Lessons for Writers

Elira’s arc illustrates several key principles you can apply to your own stories:

• Don’t erase the flaw, redeem it. Fear doesn’t vanish from Elira’s life. It transforms into caution, empathy, and wisdom.
• Make the flaw costly. Early on, her silence harms others. This ensures the transformation feels necessary.
• Tie the flaw to the climax. The story’s resolution hinges on her ability to use fear differently. Without that, the arc would feel disconnected.
• Ground the arc in context. Setting the story in a historical moment of unrest makes her transformation believable. She doesn’t rise by magic but by necessity.

Why Readers Love This Arc

Readers resonate with arcs like Elira’s because they mirror real life. Most of us don’t shed our flaws overnight. We learn to live with them, to reshape them, to find the gift hidden inside the wound.

Fear, in particular, is universal. We all know what it feels like to be afraid of speaking up, of stepping forward, of being seen. Watching a character transform fear into courage gives us hope that we can do the same.

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Practical Exercise for Writers

If you’d like to try this in your own work, here’s a simple exercise:

1. Choose a Negative Trait – Pick one for your protagonist: fear, arrogance, stubbornness, naivety, recklessness.
2. List the Costs – Write down three ways this trait causes harm in the first act.
3. Reframe the Trait – Ask: what hidden strength lies inside this flaw? How could it become a gift?
4. Design the Turning Point – Create a moment where the character realizes the flaw is no longer protecting them.
5. Plan the Climax – Ensure the character’s success depends on using the redeemed version of the trait.

This exercise will help you design arcs that feel both authentic and inspiring.

The beauty of storytelling lies in its ability to reveal transformation. By turning negative traits into positive ones, we remind readers that growth is possible, that flaws can be reframed, and that even fear can become fire.

When you craft a character like Elira, someone who begins in shadows and ends in light, you’re not just telling a story. You’re offering a mirror, a map, and a spark. And that spark may be exactly what your readers need to kindle their own courage.

What traits do your favorite characters have? How do they transform? Please share it with us down in the comments!

About Sarah

Sarah (Sally) Hamer, B.S., MLA, is a lover of books, a teacher of writers, and a believer in a good story. Most of all, she is eternally fascinated by people and how they 'tick'. She’s passionate about helping people tell their own stories and has won awards at both local and national levels, including two Golden Heart finals.

A teacher of memoir, beginning and advanced creative fiction writing, and screenwriting at Louisiana State University in Shreveport for over twenty years, she also teaches online for Margie Lawson at www.margielawson.com and for the No Stress Writing Academy at https://www.worldanvil.com/w/classes-deleyna/a/no-stress-writing-academy.  Sally is a free-lance editor and book coach, with many of her students and clients becoming successful, award-winning authors.

You can find her at info@mindpotential.org

Top photo licensed from Depositphotos.

By Kris Maze

Writing a novel rarely takes a straight path, processing many drafts before arriving at The End. Many writers focus on crafting their words but lose their work to faulty saving systems. If this has ever happened to you, this post may the remedy needed to finish your novel quicker.

Where's my stuff!?

Let's say that three weeks ago a side character you quietly killed off now needs to be resurrected, but their key details have disappeared in previous edits. Where were those detailed descriptions again? That clever dialogue you spent hours agonizing over? Digging through your draft history can be a pain, if not impossible.

If you add up these changes over the months and years that it takes to bring a novel to completion, a writer could have hundreds of manuscript versions. And a non-sortable, frustrating, mess.

Drowning in Drafts

Sorting through drafts was maddening for me without a version control plan. I often grabbed the wrong copy or found myself editing an old document. At other times, I updated multiple documents, unwilling to part with old versions I could revert to. Shutting down my computer brought on a wave of anxiety as I wondered, where exactly would my stuff go when it isn’t all open on my home screen? 

My experience finishing a novel was circuitous, winding, and dense. And after losing my work enough times due to multiple save points, I got serious about taking control of my manuscript versions.

If you have ever struggled with losing your work, or keeping your novel-related files organized, this post is for you. Join me, my creative writers, and lessen the stress of finding your work.

Controlling Chaos: Manuscript Version Control Set Up

Making Folders that Keep It All Tidy

The first step in managing your drafts is to have clearly designated spaces to keep the various parts of your project. On my laptop I have a core folder for all things writing. Inside that main folder I have a core “Writing Projects” folder, which has folders for each book or short story I’ve worked on. 

Inside that project folder are five sub folders that keep me organized through the whole book process from writing to publishing. Here are the designations I have within that folder:

Early Drafts

1. “Early Drafts” This one has a lot of the junky, messy versions. This one is named with a working title or the nickname the project has before it gets the final book title. 

I recommend that you keep the nickname on the folder and to not update it once the book has an actual title, since it keeps the early work together and out of your way as you progress through your novel.

Final Drafts

2. “Final Edits” This folder is very helpful in the editing stages. Inside this folder are subfolders for beta feedback, professionally edited files, and many, many “final” drafts that I can now sort through with ease.

Social Media

3. “Social Media” This folder has subfolders that house my social media copy. I have a folder for each type of media, short videos and posts, and it has a spreadsheet to help me keep track of which ones I’ve used.

Book Covers & Meta Data

4. “Book Covers & Meta Data” This folder holds all the variations of the key parts of the book outside of the manuscript. Having separate folders helps to keep it all organized.

Upload Files

5. “Upload Files” This folder makes uploading final documents fool-proof, allowing me to have only the final book cover, manuscript, and digital files ready at my fingertips to upload to stores. 

Scrivener Exports

One step for me involves using the “compile” feature in Scrivener, which I will share here. If you don’t use Scrivener, you can apply these organizing ideas with any document system. You will still benefit from saving multiple files that document your progress and setting up a folder system with easy-to-find files. For the purposes of this article, I will focus on using Word as it is the most used software when working with editors.

Instructions for using compile in Scrivener may change over time as the software gets updates, so check the Literature and Latte website (the URL home of Scrivener) or customer service if you have any issues. 

To export Scrivener project to Word follow these steps: 

1. click Compile icon 
2. choose output format 
3. select files to include 
4. click Compile 
5. give document a title 
6. save.

If you prefer to watch a short instructional video, I found this helpful resource by author Kirsten W. Larsen in a YouTube series on using Scrivener. This video explains how to export your manuscript in parts, selecting only the chapters and not the meta data. It also shows how to export in other formats as well. 

Scrivener will default to the last settings used, so once I set mine up to save only the chapters (and not the notes, or metadata) it would compile quickly each time I finished my writing session.

Naming Docs – The Secret Sauce

Now that you have your first draft outlined in Word and it is time to save it on your laptop. Remember those fancy folders we created? Let’s take one more step and craft a name that will not only clearly identify this draft but will also bump the most recently used draft to the top of this folder.

Using “Save As”

There are two options in the main drop “File” menu that we should pay attention to here: “Save” and “Save as.” These do very different actions to your manuscript and it could be easy to lose your work, as I once did long ago.

The difference summed up here is basic:

“Save As” creates a NEW FILE.

“Save” updates the existing file.

For my system, every time I finish a writing session, I hit “Save As” and create a new version of the draft. Even when I write at erratic times and for various durations of time, each change will be traceable, with the most current one located at the top of my Writing Projects folder. This version during this slice in time will be organized by date and time to ensure that I always grab the latest version.

Naming the Files – The Key to My Organized Universe

A file name can be a hindrance if you don’t have a plan. I have many drafts of older novels that include multiple title variants and clues about which manuscript I am looking at with the word “final” or “complete” in them. Be thoughtful about your title and save yourself a lot of stress later when you try to find your latest file.

Instead of using the hodge-podge titles I had been concocting over the years, I began to use a logical system that would order my files for me. Each file has three to four components as follows…

• Title Name
• Date
• Time
• Special Purpose (Beta, Editor, Critique, for example)

Title

It starts with a shortened title, something you will easily recognize that is not like any of your other projects. Once you save your first draft the latest title will come up automatically when saving. Then you can adjust the other parts of the whole file name.

 Date

Next include the date in this format:

251212. [year in two digits, month and day]

Having the year first is the key. Adding it first allows the files to adjust to your drafts and to automatically order them in your folder.

Time

I write at different times throughout the day, as many writers do, so adding the time is an important identifier to include in the file name. You could add the four digits for the time, such as “0914” for 9:14, but that could be in the morning or at night. I prefer to add “am” or “pm” after that. Other writers may prefer using military time or the standard world clock time that uses 24 hour days.

Special Purposes

At times, it may be useful to add a descriptor at the end of the file name to keep this version separate. Maybe you are ready to share a portion of your work with a beta reader, editor, or critique group. By adding a simple word, or person’s name at the end of your normal file name, you will always know which file you gave them. You can easily send the updated file by using this same system and the date and time will make it clear which one is the newest.

Example:  HarryMetSmiley 250622.0407pmFirstRevision

In the example above, I have all the information I need to understand where this file is in the progression of the novel. 

• It has the working title for the project: Harry Met Smiley. 
• It has the date: June 22, 2025.
• It has the time I finished that writing session: 4:07 pm.
• And I have the stage of my writing: a first deep revision.

Here are some variations of this manuscript near the end of this project’s timeline.

ParallelLives 250622.0407pm CharacterArcChanges
ParallelLives 250624.0407pm Part2Rewrite
ParallelLives 250625.0407pm ForBetaReaders
ParallelLives 250807.0407pm BetaFeedbackReconciled
ParallelLives 250810.0407pm ForEditor
ParallelLives 250815.0407pm EditorialChanges
ParallelLives 250901.0407pm FinalCandidate
ParallelLives 251021.0407pm FinalForPublishing 

Adding date and time assures that each draft is always identifiable, but the way to craft this file name has to be consistent. Be sure to check this when using “Save As”  and making a copy to the correct folder. That little extra attention to your file name will make all the difference in finding it later.

New folders for new steps

In the revision process, you will hit certain milestones or turning points in writing your novel. There may be the completed first draft. There may be a time when the book title changes. There are the instances of before getting extensive feedback from editors and beta readers and applying changes from that feedback.

When you need to clarify the latest stage of your novel, create a new folder and save your next update to the new one. Retire the old ones, tucked away in the main folder to avoid clutter and confusion.

It is also important to back up your laptop and files. Here is a recent post on this topic by James R. Preston.

Work Flow – A Satisfying Habit

This may sound like a lot of extra steps to you, but knowing where to find your latest manuscript is worth the effort. For me, I have learned to appreciate the pattern of exporting a copy from Scrivener and saving it on my laptop. Then with a couple of clicks, uploading it to Slack (or another cloud service). This pattern assures me that my work is safe, and retrievable. And that allows me to focus on the creative writing process instead of wondering where the last draft disappeared to. It has become a satisfying routine that marks the end of my writing session. 

My last writing project was Parallel Lives – The Paths Not Taken, a speculative, light romance with sparkle, and I found that the main project folder contains 251,302,948 bytes (255.2 MB on disk) for 598 items related to writing this manuscript. This does not include the handwritten drafts that filled a notebook over the year it took to draft it. That’s work saved and crafted that I can find whenever I need to.

Final tips 

My hope is that you can find some digital file management tricks that work for you. It is terrible to hear the heartbreak of an author who lost any amount of their work. Sometimes the battle for writing just one paragraph can be a complete tragedy if becomes lost, don’t let that happen to you. Organize your files and protect your work. Your novel depends on it! :)

• Make it a routine that works for you
• Check your files to see that they saved
• Open the files occasionally in all the places to check

Let's hear from you!

Do you have your own system for keeping track of drafts? What trouble have you had in keeping your files organized? Share your version control tricks…I love learning new ways writers tame the chaos of drafting!

About Kris

Kris Maze is a speculative fiction author who crafts suspenseful, heartfelt stories with twisty plots and a touch of the uncanny. Her work blends science fiction, mystery, and emotional depth, often exploring the big “what-if” questions of life and the universe. She also writes darker fiction under the pen name Krissy Knoxx. When she isn’t writing, she’s likely teaching, traveling, or wandering trails pondering the wisdom of Bob Ross. Follow her author events and join her newsletter found at KrisMaze.com.

Parallel Lives – The Paths Not Taken

Check out my new release!

A speculative time travel with light romance elements!

Harriet Last doesn’t expect much to change in her careful, practical life. That is, until a tech demo lets her revisit the “paths not taken.” What she finds is a glimmer of the person she used to be… and a thread of unexpected connection she can’t quite explain.

As Harriet explores these softly shifting memories, she begins to see where she set her dreams aside and where she might pick them back up again.

A heart warming, hope-filled story about rediscovering yourself, welcoming possibility, and noticing the spark that’s been beside you all along.

Buy it today wherever you purchase your next favorite story!