Image by Tithi Luadthong on Shutterstock Seven External Plots for Relationship-Centered Stories Add excitement without sacrificing what's important. April 22, 2022April 21, 2022 by Chris Winkle in Inspiration, Storytelling
Nine Personality Clashes for Character Conflicts How to put good people at odds without making them look mean or unreasonable. February 4, 2022February 12, 2022 by Chris Winkle in Inspiration, Storytelling
Episode 345: Witches Let the season of witchery begin! September 19, 2021September 29, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi, Chris Winkle, Wes Matlock, and Svend Phillips
Six Ways to Add Stakes to a Mystery It takes a little effort to make inheritance compelling. June 18, 2021June 17, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Inspiration, Storytelling
Nine Jerkass Traits That Aren’t Toxic or Abusive Characters can be grating without being abusive. January 29, 2021January 8, 2022 by Chris Winkle in Inspiration, Storytelling
Nine Options for High Stakes Conflicts Without Violence No violence is needed to create excitement. September 4, 2020April 22, 2022 by Chris Winkle in Inspiration, Storytelling
Six Common Misconceptions Among New Writers The structures in place to teach storytelling are woefully inadequate. August 29, 2020June 28, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi in Inspiration, Writing
What Does and Doesn’t Make a Signature Weapon Cool Coolness goes far beyond how well it stabs things. June 13, 2020November 19, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi in Inspiration
Seven Musts for Dominating a Fantasy Battle Take off your helmet and don your plot armor, it's time for a fight! May 16, 2020July 2, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi in Inspiration
Five Epic Fantasy Conflicts Other Than War I’ve got nothing against a good war – in fiction anyway. November 2, 2019October 23, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi in Inspiration, Worldbuilding
Five More Underused Settings in Spec Fic October 12, 2019October 27, 2020 by Oren Ashkenazi in Inspiration, Worldbuilding
Classical Music to Set Any Scene Most authors listen to music while they write. June 14, 2019June 13, 2019 by Bunny in Inspiration
Five Activities I Use to Beat Writer’s Block Writer’s block is an unpleasant experience, to say the least. April 26, 2019April 25, 2019 by Oren Ashkenazi in Commentary, Inspiration
Seven Black Women You’d Want on Your Side in a Horror Movie In many horror movies, the black woman is a mere friend – cannon fodder, to put it bluntly. March 23, 2018March 22, 2018 by Aigner Loren Wilson in Analysis, Inspiration, Social Justice
Seven Recipes for Heroes to Win Desperate Fights How to concoct a victory for your protagonists when their odds feel slim. January 5, 2018June 28, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Inspiration, Storytelling
Five More Dualities That Can Replace Good and Evil Six complex conflicts to help your story move beyond "Stop the bad guys". July 7, 2017June 29, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Inspiration
Five Plausible Scenarios for Planetary Evacuation How your protagonist's plans to depart from the planet can make a little more sense. June 2, 2017June 30, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi in Inspiration, Worldbuilding
Choosing a Weapon for Your Hero How to choose what your character carries into battle—and what might be out of their league. April 21, 2017July 2, 2021 by Andrew Falconer in Inspiration, Worldbuilding
Five Underused Settings in Spec Fic Five places for your story to boldly go that few have gone to before. February 25, 2017July 11, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi in Inspiration
Six Subversive Heroes for Stand Out Stories Six characters who haven't gotten their time in the spotlight—and whom you could give it to. December 2, 2016July 13, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Inspiration, Social Justice
Erynus