Tag: plot

Balance the Party—Guide to Creating Legendary Characters

For the past couple of weeks, we have been talking about antagonists, and how vital it is to create an antagonistic force capable of sustaining literary momentum over the course of 60-100,000 words. I worked as freelance editor for almost a decade, and have run critique groups for seven years. I have read literally hundreds …

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"He is His Own Worst Enemy…"–Antagonist Part 2

Part of why I am writing this series on the antagonist is that most new writers don’t understand 1.) how vital the antagonist is, 2) how to properly use the antagonist and 3) often cannot spot an antagonist if he were dressed like a Vegas showgirl holding sparklers (okay, maybe that last one was just …

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Twitter Tuesday #9

This blog Welcome to the ninth installment of Twitter Tuesday. In the spirit of Twitter, this blog will be short and sweet and to the point. The tips offered here are all based off my best-selling book We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media. If our goal is to build an author platform in the thousands to tens of thousands, …

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The Antagonist Part One–Introducing the Big Boss Troublemaker

Conflict is the core ingredient to fiction, even literary fiction. Conflict in any novel can have many faces and often you will hear this referred to as the antagonist. The antagonist is absolutely essential for fiction. He/she/it is the engine of your story. No engine, and no forward momentum. Like cars, plots need momentum or they …

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3 Lessons of Confession–Lead a Happier & More Productive Life

This blog is dedicated to helping writers holistically. We are more than robots sitting at a desk pounding out word count. We have hopes, dreams, fears, bad habits and baggage. Monday is dedicated to helping you guys with craft. Wednesdays is to help you build your platforms. Fridays are my choice, but I like to …

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