Tag: plotting tips

Johari Window: Harnessing Character Blind Spots

The Johari Window can be one of many powerful tools for crafting dimensional characters and developing layered stories (plots) audiences love.

3 Mistakes that Will Make Readers Want to Punch a Book in the Face

To do my job well, I do a tremendous amount of reading. Additionally, I make it a point to make sure I read different genres so I get a sense of what writers do well (or not so well) regardless of the type of story. I’ve been inhaling Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series as of …

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How to Tell if Your Story is On Target—What is Your Book About in ONE Sentence?

Think of your one sentence as your scale-model or your prototype. If the prototype doesn’t generate excitement and interest, it is unlikely the final product will succeed. So revise the prototype until you find something that gets the future audience genuinely excited.

Talk is Cheap—For Great Fiction Drive the Demons to the Surface

These tough existential questions are what drive the tension of the book because the big questions are placed into context so they can be tested—a regular guy and his boy in a world that has gone horribly wrong. Yes, there is some internalization, but the outside characters and circumstances force that existential question out of the character’s mind and into reality.