by Lynette M. Burrows

To borrow and slightly twist Samwise Gamgee’s words*, the great stories, the ones that really matter, are stories about people, about their relationships. Relationships are a large part of what your readers relate to because we can’t escape them.… 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

Part One

Some of if not the most important storytelling concepts a writer needs to understand are the concepts of tension, suspense, and conflict in stories. Those three things can captivate your audience and keep them turning pages. However, the concepts overlap enough to cause confusion.… Read the post

There’s a lot written about Imposters Syndrome. Most of it attempts to reassure us that feeling like an imposter is normal. I’m not here to argue with that. But too many of us do not realize how deviously imposter syndrome can invade your creative life. Or… Read the post

There are hundreds of books and classes that insist a writer must start with a story with a specific story structure. This implies that anyone who doesn’t use that method is writing their stories the wrong way. Some writers avoid structure, saying it stifles their creativity.… Read the post