by
Oren Ashkenazi
Any advice for doing a person vs situation story, such as Gravity or The Martian, where there is no actual villain, and the character or characters have to survive their current situation? Thank you -Dave L Storytelling
by
Chris Winkle
It’s hard enough to make simple conflicts exciting, and not all conflicts should be simple. You might have lots of protagonists who need important roles, or you may simply want your conflict to be longer and meatier. Either way, once you add too many elements, … read more »Q&A
by
Oren Ashkenazi
Hi again. So I’ve done all the worldbuilding, I have the plot and know where I want my story to go, but how do I start it? I started with the first chapter but it was boring. I want to show the reader that my … read more »Storytelling
by
Oren Ashkenazi
Throughlines are the conflict that ties your story together from beginning to end. The throughline is a story’s core, and if it isn’t working, chances are that very little else is. Unfortunately, a weak or missing throughline is easily the most common problem my content … read more »Storytelling
by
Chris Winkle
When I first wrote this guide to character arcs in 2014, I got one important thing right: character arcs are not ethereal unicorns; they follow the same principles as other plot arcs. However, at the time I didn’t know that much about plotting. Plus, great … read more »Podcast
by
Oren Ashkenazi, Chris Winkle and Wes Matlock
Sometimes you can just tell that the story you’re reading has come to a screeching halt, but what does that actually mean? How can you tell when a story isn’t moving, or is moving too fast, and why does it matter? That’s what we’re talking … read more »Storytelling
by
Chris Winkle
If you want to set a trap for a storyteller, just dig a big hole, put some sharp spikes in it (don’t bother concealing them), and add a sign that says “stepping in this hole is immensely clever.” We will walk right in. Even if … read more »Storytelling
by
Chris Winkle
A good story makes it feel like characters are on a collision course, events are coming to a head, and the story is generally on its way to a climax and resolution. We call this feeling of progress toward the finish line “movement,” or, alternatively, … read more »Storytelling
by
Chris Winkle
Writing dreams allows us to discard the last vestiges of reality and embrace wild surrealism, paint colorful metaphors, or explore the inner workings of our characters. Unfortunately, standard-issue dreams come with a problem: they don’t matter. Without impacting future events, they’ll feel like a tangent … read more »Storytelling
by
Chris Winkle
In 2014, I was researching best practices for writing scenes when I noticed something: they looked an awful lot like the best practices for a whole novel. The concepts were the same; they’d just been given different names. I wrote an article declaring plots were … read more »
Any advice for doing a person vs situation story, such as Gravity or The Martian, where there is no actual villain, and the character or characters have to survive their current situation? Thank you -Dave L 
It’s hard enough to make simple conflicts exciting, and not all conflicts should be simple. You might have lots of protagonists who need important roles, or you may simply want your conflict to be longer and meatier. Either way, once you add too many elements, … read more » 
Throughlines are the conflict that ties your story together from beginning to end. The throughline is a story’s core, and if it isn’t working, chances are that very little else is. Unfortunately, a weak or missing throughline is easily the most common problem my content … read more » 
When I first wrote this guide to character arcs in 2014, I got one important thing right: character arcs are not ethereal unicorns; they follow the same principles as other plot arcs. However, at the time I didn’t know that much about plotting. Plus, great … read more » 
Sometimes you can just tell that the story you’re reading has come to a screeching halt, but what does that actually mean? How can you tell when a story isn’t moving, or is moving too fast, and why does it matter? That’s what we’re talking … read more » 
If you want to set a trap for a storyteller, just dig a big hole, put some sharp spikes in it (don’t bother concealing them), and add a sign that says “stepping in this hole is immensely clever.” We will walk right in. Even if … read more » 
A good story makes it feel like characters are on a collision course, events are coming to a head, and the story is generally on its way to a climax and resolution. We call this feeling of progress toward the finish line “movement,” or, alternatively, … read more » 
Writing dreams allows us to discard the last vestiges of reality and embrace wild surrealism, paint colorful metaphors, or explore the inner workings of our characters. Unfortunately, standard-issue dreams come with a problem: they don’t matter. Without impacting future events, they’ll feel like a tangent … read more » 
In 2014, I was researching best practices for writing scenes when I noticed something: they looked an awful lot like the best practices for a whole novel. The concepts were the same; they’d just been given different names. I wrote an article declaring plots were … read more » 
