by Janice Hardy

If things always work out in your protagonist’s favor, you might have a contrived plot.

Getting a plot to unfold just the way you want it to can be challenging. Sometimes we get so locked on how it should go, that we force it to follow a certain path—even if there’s no reason for it to unfold that way at all.… Read the post

By Janice Hardy

You don’t have to know everything about your story before you start plotting.

Since writing is fairly split between character writers and plot writers, you can bet that half the writers you meet have had struggles with plot (the other half with characters, but that’s another post).… Read the post

by Janice Hardy

A novel is about the story, not the technical skills you use to write it.

Fiction is an odd combination of skills. The craft of writing is technical, with rules and techniques that can achieve different results, yet the art of storytelling is visceral, relying on creativity and instinct to pluck the best pieces from our imagination.… Read the post

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

World building is one of my favorite aspects of writing science fiction and fantasy. It’s a chance to open up the creative floodgates and let the imagination run wild. But world building is more than just the physical and descriptive details of a place.… Read the post

by Janice Hardy

While there’s something exciting about writing a first draft, I always look forward to the revisions. It isn’t until I see how my story unfolds that I fully understand where I can make it stronger, and turning that literary lump of coal into a diamond is quite rewarding–and a lot of fun.… Read the post