Tag: how to write great books

How to Intensify Conflict & Deepen Characters—The Wound

Wounds drive how we perceive our world, what we believe we want, and how we will (or won’t) interact with others. This is critical for generating story tension and character arc.

Do You Have "As You Know, Bob…" Syndrome?–How Writers Can Butcher Dialogue & How to Fix It

One of the best ways to move plot forward with increasing momentum and to create living, breathing characters is by harnessing the power of dialogue. As an editor for twelve years, I can tell you dialogue is one of the single largest components of writing great fiction, and it’s the part that’s most often butchered. The story can be great, the setting, the prose? And then comes this clunky dialogue with characters talking in ways only seen on bad soap operas or movies highlighted/slayed by “Rotten Tomatoes.”