Writing tips, advice, and secret sauce – Creativity, getting things done, dialog, plots, and more
Many writers use fictional religions to add to their story’s world building. Adding a religion to your story can be a great way to show what’s important in your characters’ culture, and what people in your world value. A fictional religion can be used to explain social and political power structures, such as the source of a king’s power, or […]
Quick Tip: Fictional Religions and World Building Read More »
Stretch a Too-Short Short Story, Without the Filler Did you just finish a big writing project only to come up short? Did your novel turn out to be a novella? It can feel disappointing for a story to come to an end sooner than you wanted, but that doesn’t mean it’s a problem. First ask yourself if you really need
You might have mastered plotting, character development, and thematic storytelling, but can you write funny? Whether you’re a newbie novelist or a storytelling sage, learning more about humor writing and joke structure can take your storytelling to the next level. Humor breathes life into characters and gives their dialogue a unique voice. It lightens stories with dark themes that could
Learn to follow the mystery writing rules and avoid angry readers My mother is a big mystery lover, so I grew up around mystery novels and watching mysteries with her on TV. In an attempt to write something Mom would read, I decided my first novel would be a science fiction-flavored mystery. Mystery writing was an interesting experience. I had
How to Explain Your Alien Planet’s Single Culture While Earth has around two hundred countries and thousands of languages and cultures, in science fiction and space opera, alien worlds often have just one. Or at least, only one that we ever see. This is often called the “planet of hats” trope, or an alien monoculture. Many science fiction fans view
