If we make our characters' lives too easy the story is dull. Here's how to create tension using conflict and make our stories hard to set down.

If you love feeling immersed in the lives and emotional dramas of fictional characters, then shifting focus from external to internal builds plot organically.

  Though we are a very cohesive group here at Writers in the Storm, we are split down the middle in writing style. Laura and Fae write their stories in a linear fashion while Julie and I quilt ours together scene by scene. The linear approach kills my stories, but story quilting lets me focus on my […]

Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy A lot of focus gets put on the core conflict of a novel--the main problem the protagonist has to solve to win. It's no wonder since that's the whole point of the book, but sometimes, when we look too hard at the external problems, we miss out on opportunities to let the […]

Today we’re talking about Dirty Fighting. What is it, and why do you want your characters to do it? The main reason: It escalates tension in your story by deepening both your external and internal conflict. Dirty Fighting isn’t about some how-to guide on Jujitsu or Street Fighting. Nope, it’s actually a list of twenty-three items given […]