Lessons From the Cursed Writing of Vicious
Don't let a novel opening go to waste.
Latest in Lessons From Bad Writing
Lessons From the Appropriative Writing of Gemma Doyle
An opening set in occupied India. What could go wrong?
Lessons From the Summary Writing of Illuminae
Does this novel redefine the form, or does it have bad form?
Lessons from the Empty Writing of The Alchemyst
Check out this book about Nicholas Flamel. Did you know it's about Nicholas Flamel?
Lessons From the Vague Writing of The Remnant Chronicles
Marketing buzzwords vs the story: the battle begins.
Lessons From the Edgy Writing of Blindsight
Author Peter Watts has an engaging voice and a reckless disregard for accuracy.
I Tried to Praise The Eye of Argon and Ended Up With These Lousy Writing Lessons
The worst story ever written... or is it?
Lessons From the Tense Writing of Winter World
Winter World's opening establishes tension but lacks novelty, attachment, or satisfaction.
Lessons From the Exposition of Crescent City
Confusing info dumps and lack of plot focus make this a disorienting opening.
Lessons From the Terrible Writing of Eragon’s Sequel
Give your character agency and consistency... or die.
Lessons From the Purple Writing of The Witcher
Monsters have nothing on the horrors of confusing wordcraft and muddled description.
Lessons from the Disingenuous Writing of Maximum Ride
A smarmy protagonist and an inconsistent tone undercuts Maximum Ride's hopes for a tense opening.
Lessons From the Writing of The Name of the Wind
You asked me to critique The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, so here we are.
Lessons From The Maze Runner’s Point of View Disaster
Master perspective before it masters you.
Lessons From the Terrible Writing of This Post
We've written lessons for numerous works, but never for this particular post.
Lessons From the Hyped Writing of Dawn of Wonder
Renshaw's wordcraft is clumsy, but at least it isn't boring.
Lessons From the Rambling Writing of Handbook for Mortals
Last year, Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem cheated its way to the top of the New York Times YA bestseller list.
Lessons From the Rushed Writing of The Blade Itself
Confusing description and a lack of context bog down an action-packed opening.
Lessons From the Flat Writing of Tiger’s Curse
A lack of nuance, attachment, and tension make this intro more of a whimper than a roar.
Lessons From the Tedious Writing of The Disintegration Machine
A jerk main character and slow, run-on paragraphs drag this early sci-fi tale to a crawl.
Joseph