When it comes time to write an action scene, style matters. Different styles of action require different conditions, such as: Pace Duration Stakes Risks Outcomes All these conditions combine to meet specific reader expectations. The nine of the most common types of action scenes with examples (books and movies) Escape—the characters seek to free themselves […]

Raise your hand if you’ve heard tension on every page. If you know you must have conflict and obstacles. Dollars-to-donuts, every hand is waving as high and hard as the girl in the back of the room who knows the answer and never gets picked. But, with little risk of winding up in a donut-induced […]

capital letter (n.) late 14c.; see capital (adj.). So called because it is at the "head" of a sentence or word. —etymonline.com Have you noticed that there is a Proliferation of Uppercase letters being tacked on Willy-nilly to all sorts of Words for no logical Reason? As an Editor, I run into this problem a lot. It’s […]

I’ve been writing historical fiction for a long time, so you’d think by now I would have learned. But when I am at the beginning of a new project my tendency is still to start researching the fun stuff—the nitty-gritty details. After all, those details often bring great inspiration for story as well as fun […]

Lisa Miller teaches us how to create a super-powered single sentence to distill the essence of our story's plot.

Every story needs a fleshed-out world—even ones set in a realistic one. Here are three tips to help round out your contemporary world.

A first line is a promise to the reader, telling them what kind of book this is. What your voice is like. A good first line will pull a reader into a story.

Alternate history uses the past and twists it to imagine what might have been. Sometimes this can be merely thought-provoking, or it can be the stuff of nightmares.

When we clean out crutch words to polish our stories, that's when our voices can shine through. 

The LWA Coffeehouse is available for all LWA students and visiting writers - free!

Becky Rawnsley shows the power of using similes to create fresh writing with tips and examples.

In real life, a sigh always means something. It carries a psychological message. But writers often plop a plain sigh on the page without sharing that all-critical subtext.

Life is a string of experiences. Stories are virtual experiences, presented in a string of scenes. Who experiences? The mind does. Hence, writers need to know the psychology of experiencing and apply that to stories. Janus, the Two-faced God We experience two worlds, the internal and external world. We are Janus, the two-faced god, who […]

Tonight, I have to go and talk to a local writer’s group about time management for writers. It occurred to me as I printed out my handouts that many writers that I have met—and spoken to on this very topic—return again and again for the same lecture. It’s not because they weren’t paying attention the […]

I’m blessed to exist as a writer for film and television, as well as novels, comic books, graphic novels, and more. One of the most common questions I get asked is how to write more consistently, or begin writing again after stalling out.  I have good news and bad news: The answer is simple, but […]

How do you feel about naming characters? It’s NOT drudgery. It’s all about finding out your character’s backstory and using that to find the right name. The first thing that authors need to consider is: Names are language. In fact, it is special branch of linguistics called onomastics. Here is just a sample: Neologisms A […]

Let’s be honest, y’all. Tropes have a bad reputation among fiction writers. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard the word “trope” leveled at something like a weakness. “Oh, but she’s just writing to trope…” we hear, like putting tropes into your work is a bad thing. But let’s look at this from […]

Regardless of the length or genre of a story, creating tension is essential to holding readers' attentions. But what is the best way to add more tension to a story?  Often I see aspiring authors withholding information in an effort to be vague and cryptic, which only serves to frustrate readers instead of engage them. […]

There are so many moving parts when writing historical fiction. Not only are there the normal things—like character development and story structure—but there is all the historical research needed in order to put the reader firmly in a different time and place. What is often forgotten? The words themselves.  The use of language in historical […]

The day has finally arrived! After slogging through manuscripts, enduring the seemingly unending cycle of query and rejection, you did it—your dream agent has tendered an offer of representation. Celebrate! There are plenty of articles and blog posts out there that tell you what kinds of questions to ask your agent to determine if you […]