writing advice – Page 2

The Stuff In Between The Dialogue.

By dnbrynPosted on November 10, 2018Posted in characters, other, writing articlesTagged dialogue, writers on writing, writing advice, writing dialogue, writing help, writing tips

Though we don’t usually need a lot going on outside the dialogue itself, it often feels static or otherwise unnatural if you have a entire conversation with dialogue, a few tags, and nothing else. But we never want to add extra words for the sake of just having words. Everything we write should contribute to […]

Every scene furthers the plot.

By dnbrynPosted on September 29, 2018Posted in characters, writing articlesTagged books, plot, writers, writing, writing advice, writing fiction

Some writers confuse “you must further the plot with every scene” with “heavy plot handling must happen constantly.” (Which is a shame, because the latter is not only incorrect, but can make your character’s interactions stiff and boring.) It’s okay to let your characters joke. It’s okay if they get off track of the plot […]

Writing Your First Novel Right.

By dnbrynPosted on September 23, 2018Posted in method, writing articlesTagged books, encouragement, first book, literature, motivational, writing, writing advice

While I have a book published (siren! pirates! okay yeah enough with the marketing), I’m still editing the first novel I wrote. It’s okay if your first novel takes a long time. It’s okay if you have to rewrite it and rewrite it and then thoroughly edit it and then rewrite it again. It’s okay if you take long breaks from […]

Writing Relationships: Enemies to Lovers.

By dnbrynPosted on September 15, 2018Posted in characters, writing articlesTagged books, reading, romance, writing, writing advice, writing help, writing tips

These types of relationships can be some of the most interesting and enjoyable, both to read and write, because they show us many sides of the same characters and the growth from a hatred to mixed feelings and finally to genuine love and acceptance is often heartwarming to experience. But relationships like also require finesse to […]

Writing Redemption Arcs.

By dnbrynPosted on September 1, 2018Posted in characters, writing articlesTagged redemption arcs, stories, villains, writing, writing advice, writing help, writing tips

What is a redemption arc? “Redemption: An act of redeeming or atoning for a fault or mistake.” An act, implying action, which is created by choices, which just happens to be the basis of character development. Some writers confuse redemption arcs with things they are not, and end up creating situations which aren’t redemption arcs at all, but […]

Why is passive voice (and past progressive tense) “bad”?

By dnbrynPosted on August 12, 2018Posted in other, writing articlesTagged grammar, how to write, writing advice, writing tips

First off, I have to put a disclaimer here because I tend to rope past progressive tense into passive voice, because they both rely on “to be” verbs a lot, and because I’m lazy. I’ll talk about them both separately for once. 1. Passive voice can lead to confusing sentences. In non-grammar jargon, passive voice often […]

Mary Sue Stories: Why your Mary Sue and Gary Stu should(n’t always) go.

By dnbrynPosted on August 4, 2018Posted in writing articlesTagged characters, mary sue, writing, writing advice, writing fiction, writing tips

Most of us are quite familiar with the term, but if you’ve heard it passed around without a proper definition, a Mary Sue is a (traditionally female) character who’s known for being flawless. She’s powerful, beautiful, intelligent, more skilled than her peers, gets herself out of every bad situation with ease, (usually wowing a crowd of bystanders in the […]

A Look at Negative Character Development.

By dnbrynPosted on May 6, 2018Posted in other, writing articlesTagged character development, character growth, characters, literature, writing, writing advice, writing resources, writing tips

What is negative character development? It’s incredibly hard to define. Some writers relate it to moral decline. Some apply it to areas where a character returns to a way of life they had at one point developed out of. Other writers don’t like to use the term at all. There’s another way to look at […]

Describing Nature

By dnbrynPosted on April 29, 2018Posted in other, writing articlesTagged description, nature, writing, writing advice, writing description, writing fiction, writing resources, writing tips

(Tips to help you tackle the outdoors without ever leaving your home.) The forest for the trees. When describing any setting, especially potentially spacious settings such as expanses of nature, you have two major components: the big picture (the forest) and the little picture (the trees). It’s generally best to start with one and move […]

Writing Engaging Antagonists

By dnbrynPosted on April 22, 2018Posted in writing articlesTagged characters, literature, writers on writing, writing, writing advice, writing fiction, writing resources, writing tips, writing villains

Before we get started, I want to clarify two things: – Antagonists can be of any moral alignment. They can be also be non-human things, such as monsters, nature, inner demons, etc. The antagonist is simply the primary thing your protagonist fights against. – For the course of this article I will be talking about […]