Fiction Craft

Canine characters’ personalities and language can add a richness to the story that highlights loyalty, heroism, humor, and emotional nuance.

When turning real life into historical fiction, being clear about the story you want to tell will help inform how to go about your research.

Some see “plotter or pantser” as an identity, but it’s really just a method applied after ample preparation either in your head or on the page.

Writing short pieces based in your novel’s world can spark ideas that might add depth and nuance to your main story’s characters.

A premise is the seed of a story, not its structure. Learn how to turn a what-if into a plot.

Any element of a story has the potential to be positive or negative, helpful or harmful. Your character’s context provides the frame of reference.

Transitioning from one scene to another may seem trivial, but it’s crucial to help orient readers and conduct them smoothly through the story.

For an anecdote (“You won’t believe what I saw!”) to grow into an impactful story, a surprise element isn’t enough—real change needs to occur.

Before writing your novel, imagining the first and last scenes can help clarify the story’s point and the reader’s emotional journey.

Discomfort with “unlikeable” female characters may reflect readers’ own biases and have little or nothing to do with the quality of the writing.

When building a character, roles can be efficient shorthand—hard-boiled detective, dutiful nurse—but the best characterizations require going deeper.

If your story requires characters whose motivations don’t come naturally to you, here are some tips to help you imagine the impossible.

Fear can limit our ability to apply reason and logic, leading to flawed choices and behavior—bad in real life, but story gold in fiction.

Omniscient POV might be resurging, thanks to some recent bestsellers. To use it well, remember three C’s: clarity, consistency, and control.

A repeated word, phrase, motif, symbol, or image can create tension for your readers in small, barely noticeable increments.

Most characters have a challenge to overcome, but what about more serious physical or psychological issues that can’t be “cured” or ignored?

When a scene shifts to a new setting, time, or POV without clearly bridging that gap, we risk losing readers’ trust and goodwill.

There’s no one-size-fits-all way to structure a story, so understanding the core principles will help you decide what’s right for yours.

By observing our own species through the eyes of another, something new just might be revealed to us.

Writing outside our lived experience isn’t just about getting facts right—it’s also about learning who we are when we truly listen to others.

A successful story unfurls in a way that both keeps readers grounded and keeps them guessing—so withhold information, but not context.

Improv is about being in the moment, and showed one author how to let go, listen better, take risks, and move on when something doesn’t work.

Small bits of action—descending the stairs, cleaning off the car—might not be insignificant if they tell something about a character’s world.

One writer explores how women will rationalize away feelings of unease for the sake of pleasing others, and how we express that on the page.