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When we review a manuscript for content editing, we can usually tell what the writer is passionate about. Unfortunately, many manuscripts have a mismatch between what the writer loves and what the story needs. That creates serious problems in a creative work. We don’t tell … read more »
It can be tricky to take a protagonist from blissfully ignorant to embroiled in a tense conflict between secret factions. That’s probably why I’ve encountered many manuscripts where a mysterious kidnapping or murder takes place and then a mentor shows up and tells the hero … read more »
A lot of things can go wrong with a story’s beginning, and one of the most common problems is that it’s just boring. Instead of grabbing readers, the beginning slowly meanders around waiting for the story to start. Even if the narrative picks up later, … read more »
Every member of Team Good should help save the day. But the larger your ensemble cast is, the trickier it can be to make sure everyone is contributing. When a protagonist doesn’t pull their weight, they end up feeling superfluous at best and annoying at … read more »
Sometimes, the reactions we assign to characters in the outline stage don’t feel natural when written out. In these cases, it can be difficult to judge whether planned character behaviors are unrealistic or the storyteller just isn’t in the right mindset. Since character choices can … read more »
Unless your story is specifically about sexual assault, you should probably remove any rape, attempted rape, or even mention of rape from your story. This is because these depictions normalize sexual assault and are often hurtful to survivors. Let’s go over how rape ends up … read more »
All communication can use story structure to engage audiences. This includes not only narrative works like creative nonfiction but also articles, speeches, essays, and informational texts. This doesn’t mean all communication should have story structure. Stories string audiences along – that’s how they work. Giving … read more »
Parents are a real bugbear for any author writing an underage protagonist, and it’s not difficult to see why. Not only are parents generally more capable than their children, but they also have a vested interest in not allowing said children to undertake dangerous tasks, … read more »
Hollywood has made the act of revisiting old fan favorites something of a gimmick. With a rising wave of returning franchises, classics like Star Wars, assorted horror and superhero movies, Star Wars, numerous 2D-animated films,* and Star Wars have made their way back to the … read more »
Everyone loves a good mystery. But mystery stories have a common problem: no satisfaction at the end. That’s because everything in the story leads to a big reveal about whodunit. Reveals are always tricky to pull off, so if the story’s not firing on all cylinders, … read more »