Registration Now Open for The Triarchy Method

Hi friends! Registration for my live online writing course is now open. - Sign-ups are first come, first serve- I only take 10 students for the course (however, auditing is available for additional...

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Alternative Views of Basic Story Structure

Basic story structure is, well, the foundation of story structure. Rising action.Climax.Falling action. You've heard me talk about it all before.And if you've followed me for a while, you likely...

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If the Relationship is the Primary Plot (A Story), What is the Secondary (B Story)?

As I've talked about several times on here, most stories are made up of three different dominating plotlines, and most commonly, they are these:External--this is the character's outer journey. The character...

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Writing a Meet Cute for Any Story, Any Genre

What is a Meet Cute?"Meet Cute" is a term from the romance genre, and it's basically what it sounds like. It's when the two love interests meet in a cute way. A common (and arguably cliche) example of...

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When to Wax Strong on Interiority

Lately I've been doing some posts on the internal part of stories, the internal plotline and on balancing interiority. For a long time, I've wanted to write a post about when to lay on that interiority...

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What Happens When There are No Plot Points in a Story?

Plot points are a vital part of storytelling, but many writers aren't taught about them until they are elbow-deep into writing. Some are lucky enough that they naturally put proper plot points into their...

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Writing Interiority: Too Much vs. Too Little

Recently I talked to some groups of writers about interiority, and the importance of balancing it out in stories. As I've been thinking about the topic some more, I wanted to do a follow-up post on the...

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Writing with 3 Equal-sized Acts: The Hunger Games

A while ago, a follower read my article "Variations on Story Structure: A List," and asked me to elaborate on how The Hunger Games (book) doesn't follow the typical beat percentages, and they wondered...

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Working with the Internal Plotline

Most successful stories will have at least three different types of plotlines. This gives the story more dimension and depth. And while there are different combinations you can choose, by far the most...

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Promise, Progress, Payoff--in Stories, Acts & Scenes

When lecturing on plot, New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson often breaks structure down into three parts: promise, progress, and payoff. These fit beginning, middle, and end, respectively. While...

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How to Write the Grand Gesture for Any Story, Any Genre

If you write romance or have hung around romance writers, you may have heard of the Grand Gesture, (arguably) the most important part of any romance story. We have all read or seen this moment in Act...

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What is Head Hopping? And Why is it Bad? (with Examples)

If you are writing in third person point of view, you should almost always avoid what's called "head hopping," and stick to one character's perspective at a time. But that is sometimes easier said than...

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Answering Your Recent Writing Questions

Years ago, I used to answer people's writing questions on a regular basis, but . . . alas, my professional life got too busy to keep up with them, especially when they can be so specific to that person's...

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Then vs. Now Scenes

Recently I did an article on types of scenes that have little to no conflict, and it seemed like the proper time to write up a little post on another pair of scenes: Then vs. Now scenes.This topic has...

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