Character Emotions, Defence Mechanisms and Change

Stephanie Carty talks all about character psychology to help you create realistic fictional humans.
How to Write Action

How to nail that action scene and build up tension, no matter what genre you write.
Should I Include the Pandemic in My WIP?

Do we pretend the last few years never happened or tackle fictional COVID, too?
Planning VS Pantsing

Storytime. A long time ago in a galaxy, well, actually this galaxy, but that’s a lot less snappy than the original… Wait. I probably should have thought that out before I wrote it down. Ahh, never mind. I’ll edit it later. So anyway, once upon a time there were two writers – let’s call them Sarah […]
The Perils of Over-Planning

Planning your writing is a great idea. Understanding your characters and their motivations, knowing their arcs back to front and having an idea of how and when you’re going to ramp up the tension will help you write a strong, exciting story. But there comes a point when you have to unclench your fingers from […]
The Story Genius of Moana

If you’ve got (or have ever had) small children in the house, it’s likely you’ve watched and re-watched your fair share of animated movies, possibly to the point where you find yourself singing Frozen songs alone in the car or randomly quoting Finding Nemo at confused retail workers. And while the sixty-gazillionth viewing of the same […]
Troubleshoot Your Writing: Why Are You Stuck?

Fear not the stickage. Everyone hits a sticking point in their writing at some point. Hitting a sticking point does not = failure. Going through a writing drought does not mean you should give up. Realising your writing is riddled with problems does not mean it’s not redeemable. But before you can move past all […]
How Do I Show, Not Tell?

If you only do one bit of writing this week, make it this
Sowing Story Seeds

How to engineer a big satisfying payoff for your story with some subtle seeding…
The Magic Of Scene Summaries

Organise your shit, overcome the overwhelm, and finish your dang book.