As promised we continue our journey on the secrets of the story structure. Once you've got the reader hooked, your next task is to put your first few chapters to work, introducing your characters, settings, and stakes. The first 20-25% of the book comprises your setup. At first glance, this may seem...

Stories are a series of scenes. Some of these scenes are planned, some are even deliberately repetitive for the sake of emphasis. But some scenes change everything. These game changers are the plot points. They introduce significant elements and events that alter the subsequent course of history. Yo...

The first quarter of your story hinges on two important and irreversible moments: the triggering event and the key event. I have deferred our discussion of the trigger event and key events to this point in our series of articles, because these events can take place at any of the points in the story ...

Each segment of a story offers its own challenges, but perhaps none leave the writers more baffled than the second act. The beginning and end are hard to fix, but at least we have a checklist of things to accomplish. The center of the story, on the other hand, is like an empty yawn. We feel utterly ...

In the middle of our stories something wonderful happens. There we were, minding our own business, toiling through the seemingly endless desert of Act II, when… whap! boom! click! - everything changes again. Legendary director Sam Peckinpah spoke about how he always looked for a "pivot" to hang his ...

Now that we're past the midpoint, things are starting to heat up in our story. The second half of the second act is where your storyline really starts to explode. Your protagonist emerges from the dramatic event midway through the story with his decision to stop reacting and start acting. Almost alw...

The third act is the moment we've all been waiting for - readers, writers, and characters alike. This final section of the story is the crux . It's what we've been building all this time. If the first and second acts were engaging and aesthetic mazes, the third act is where the X marks the spot on t...

And, now, the moment we've all been waiting for! The climax is the pièce de résistance, the main dish, of a novel. When we bring out the climax and lift the shimmering silver cloche off the serving platter, this is the piece that gets all the "oohs" and "aahs." The climax of a story should keep read...

Resolution is always a bittersweet moment. You have reached the end of the story. You've climbed the mountain and now you can plant the flag of completion at the top. But like the final moment of any job, this is also the end of all the fun you've had in your wonderful world of made-up people and pl...

In addition to writing, I am also an avid reader and, reading, I realized that the success or otherwise of a story rests on two solid foundations: immersion and emotional involvement (or attraction). If one of these two pillars is missing at a certain point in the story, its whole scaffolding collap...

Creating tension in a story can be tricky. Have you ever received feedback that a scene is boring or should be cut, but you know it's crucial to the overall plot development? What do you do at this point? You probably need a little help building tension, taking the scene from good to great. In this ...

Learning to write dialogue can be very difficult. For years I have struggled deeply with the dialogue in my stories. I thought writing conversations that felt real and true to the characters wasn't my strong suit. I let this belief dissuade me from striving to improve. I was wrong. Stories absolutel...

Chances are you've already written one but you probably don't know how to write an interior monologue in a focused way. Many authors abuse these internal reflections (also called "introspections"), thinking they provide adequate character development when in fact, they are simply telling the reader ...

Today's world is obsessed with crime. Whether it's the latest crime everyone's talking about or a crime novel that has become a bestseller, there's no denying its immense popularity. I myself, despite being an omnivorous reader and spectator, do not hide my great passion for mysteries, crime and noi...

Nothing can ruin a book faster than bad dialogue. Dialogue, when well written, reveals character, makes sense of place, builds tension, excites, and moves the plot forward. In a previous article I shared with you some tips to be able to write better dialogues, today I want to talk to you about the m...

Expository writing is defined as a style that aims to clarify something, explaining and expounding a topic to give clarity and context. This makes sense when you understand that the word expository comes from expose. In this article, we'll dive into the world of expository writing to unravel the ess...

When I first heard the term " Chekhov's gun" I admit it I assumed it was a Russian firearm, only to find out later that I was completely off track. Chekhov's pistol is actually a double-edged sword (pun intended). Before explaining, let's define this principle of writing a little better. What is Che...

Readers are eager to root for the characters. When they manage to identify with a character after sharing thousands of words with them, their engagement with the book strengthens. But to achieve this effect, it is crucial that the characters are not devoid of weaknesses. Many novice writers make the...

Photo by Fabrizio Brugnoni from Pixabay Readers often don't fully grasp the rhythm of writing, but they certainly evaluate a book based on this element. This is why, even if the technical term may escape most readers, we often hear a book described as "fast," "slow," "boring," or "overloaded with in...

The psychological thriller genre has long been highly appreciated by the audience and continues to thrive today. Readers love the mix of suspense, psychology, and unsettling revelations that characterize it, making it a highly appealing genre for authors seeking an eager audience. However, to captur...