Tag: how to write

9 Ways to Improve Your Dialogue

Dialogue is responsible for not only conveying the plot, but it also helps us understand the characters and get to know them, love them, hate them, whatever.

When Dreams Go Bad—Dream Sequences, What Works & What Flops

In the past several posts we have been unpacking the “flashback.” But, over the course of us talking about flashbacks and how to deliver backstory, a lot of people have asked about dream sequences. Before we continue, I will say this again “Anything can be done.” Writing rules are always being broken but to break …

Continue reading

Using Backstory Effectively

  All righty. So we have been discussing “flashbacks” and I have been working hard to pull this blanket term apart because not everything that shifts back in time is the dreaded “training wheel flashback” that make us editors break out in hives. New writers love to shift back and forth in time because they …

Continue reading

Understanding the Flashback—Bending Time as a Literary Device

We can mistakenly believe that any time an author shifts time that is the dreaded “flashback” I am referring to and the one I (as an editor) will cut. Not necessarily. We need to broaden our understanding of the “flashback” because lumping every backwards shift in time under one umbrella won’t work.

From Newbie to Master—Understanding the Writer's Journey

The mark of a pro is they make whatever we want to do look easy. From running a business to playing guitar to wicked cool Kung Fu moves, masters rarely seem to even break a sweat. Same with authors. With the pros? The story flows, pulls us in, and appears seamless and effortless. Just check …

Continue reading