BETTER NOVEL PROJECT
Deconstructing Bestselling Novels, One Doodle at a Time.
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6 Simple Ways to Write a Physical Description
This week I’m digging into Santa’s sack of reader emails. This one’s from Cady, who wants to know about…
5 Ways to Write a Death Theme without Being a Downer
If you want your YA novel to mean something beyond puppy love and schoolyard woes, try weaving in a theme of death through survival…
3 Roles of the Shapeshifter Character Archetype
Along the traditional hero’s journey, the hero often meets a Shapeshifter character archetype. To write my discussion post, I climbed into the dictionary. Here’s how the Oxford Dictionary explains this character:
Hagrid & Haymitch: 10 Traits of the Mentor Character Archetype
The mentor character archetype helps and protects the hero along her journey.
What We Can Learn from J.K. Rowling’s Series Grid
Christine’s note: This is a guest post by Cary Plocher, a freelance editor and blogger at TheFriendlyEditor.com. She co-authored a chapter about Series in …
7 Tips for Writing Realistic Dialogue
Does all of your dialogue sound the same, no matter who’s talking? Have you had feedback saying that your dialogue is awkward or unrealistic?
How to Deconstruct Back Cover Copy to Write Your Own Blurb [INFOGRAPHIC + SPREADSHEET]
Back cover copy is the blurb on the back of a book. It’s more sales pitch than summ…
Day-by-Day NaNoWriMo Outline: Your 30-Day Cheatsheet
I pulled out 30 key scenes from the master outline to create this day-by-day outline as dissertation writers for hire said. As you probably know, my research…
How To Write A Hit Comedy Script: Advice from Playwright Jessica Bylander
This summer I wrote and produced a sold-out show at the 2015 Capital Fringe Festival. My show – “Ambien Date Night” – was a comedy about a girl who starts dating the man of her dreams while lucidly sleep-walking on Ambien…
Deconstructing Bestselling Novels, One Doodle at a Time.
Last time we broke down a fight scene with the villain that ends when the hero is rescued by another character. Today let’s flip it around and look at a fight scene that ends with the hero rescuing a friend. This is an attack…
Writing the Sidekick Archetype (Part I)
A sidekick is the Boo-Boo to your Yogi, the Pokey to your Gumby, and the Samwise to your Frodo. Seriously, what would Frozen be without Olaf the Snowman…
9 Surprising Reasons You Need 20 Characters to Start a Book
If you think you have nothing to write about in your novel’s first chapter, think again: you have 20 people to introduce, and fast! Harry Potter and The Hunger Games each introduce 19 characters…
Master Outline
I am researching the common elements present in the first books of Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games and figuring out why they work. I decided to write about it using the admission essay writing service. I started outlining the shared…
How to Use Brand Names in Your Fiction (Just Like TFIOS)
Ever find yourself in the middle of writing your story and your main character starts using a real life product or gets involved with a real company…
How to Write a Fight Scene (in 11 Steps)
Often, the villain spends time explaining himself before the fight begins. The hero’s primary goal is not to kill the villai…
Day-by-Day NaNoWriMo Outline: Characters & Themes Cheatsheet
Last November, I created a 30-Day NaNoWriMo outline by pulling out 30 key scenes from the master outline. (As usual, my research for those scenes is based on the common structural elements of Harry…
The Top 8 Traits of the YA Bully
Don’t make life too easy on your hero. Harry Potter, Bella Swan, and Katniss Everdeen not only have to fight for their lives, they have to do it all while dealing with a schoolyard…
The Case For Blurring the Lines Between Good and Evil
When I struggled to identify what made for a meaningful Good vs. Evil theme, I turned to The Dark Knight to deconstruct how Batman delivered his complex brand…
World Building: 5 Types of Societies for Your Novel
Before creating magic, fantasy, and hi-tech elements of the world, it’s important to create an underlying societal…
The “Chekhov’s Gun” Guide to Foreshadowing
In the beginning, the hero discovers his special skill or reveals his unique personality trait. This is the equivalent of the “hanging the rifle on the wall” element of Chekhov’s gun…
How to Take Charge of Your Novel’s Symbolism
On the monomythical hero’s journey, the hero is usually “marked” in some way– often with a symbol like a scar or with a special accessory…
How to Use Song Lyrics in Your Book [INFOGRAPHIC]
Music evokes emotion, sets a mood, and brings fresh, dynamic and sometimes startling ideas to a writer. For many writers, music is a muse…