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Margie Lawson Extravaganza (Part 2!)
When I found out the awesome and talented Melinda Collins was headed off to Colorado to attend Margie Lawson’s Immersion Master Class, I absolutely had to convince her to swing by and tell us about...
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Jodie Renner on Uncluttered Prose
Today I’m at SEEKERVILLE, a supportive Writing Community that is celebrating their 5th birthday. They kindly invited me to join in the celebration, so I hope after you’re finished today’s post on...
View ArticleWriting Authentic Emotion Podcast
I’d like to link to a podcast I did recently with Gray Jones, the creator of TV Writer Podcast, a partner of Script Magazine. When Gray first contacted me about doing a podcast, I was blown away....
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Donald Maass Wisdom: Cultivate Reader Interest Through Unexpected Emotions
Recently I was at a workshop with Donald Maass and the topic of Emotional Writing came up. As you can imagine, I immediately perked up and my fingers became cyclones over the keyboard of my iPad,...
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Writing Extreme Emotion Without The Melodrama
(I’m reposting from L.A. Freeman’s blog today as I catch up from a few days of entertaining inlaws. Also, many people struggle with emotional melodrama, so I wanted to give this post another chance at...
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Writing Emotion: Does Your Hero Shrug, Smile & Frown Too Much?
Crutch gestures can sometimes get in the way of good writing. They come in all shapes and sizes–maybe an eye roll, a clenched stomach, curled fists or shrugs–cues we writers tend to overuse while...
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Hidden Emotions: How To Tell Readers What Characters Don’t Want To Show
One of the struggles that comes with writing is when a character feels vulnerable and so tries to hide their emotions as a result. Fear of emotional pain, a lack of trust in others, instinct, or...
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The Art of Story: When Telling Trumps Showing
Show, Don’t Tell. This is something we say quite a bit at WHW. As most of you know, our thesaurus collections are packed with inspiring ways to help you ‘show’ so you can craft compelling fiction that...
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How to Write Vivid Character Descriptions: Be Invisible!
One of the most difficult areas of description is when it comes to showing the appearance of a protagonist, especially when writing in first person POV. We need readers to “see” our protagonist, but...
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Showing Emotion: Moving Beyond The Face
The face is the first thing we notice in real life, and the focal point during any conversation. We connect to a person’s gaze, paying attention to how their eyes widen, squint, focus inward or dart....
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Inside One Stop For Writers: Our Descriptive Thesaurus Collections
A Closer Looks at Our Descriptive Thesaurus Collections As some of you know, the heart of One Stop For Writers is our signature Descriptive Thesaurus Collection. Visitors to this blog (and The...
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Planning a Novel: Character Arc In A Nutshell
It’s NaNoWriMo Season, and that means a ton of writers are planning their novels. Or, at the very least (in the case of you pantsers) thinking about their novel. Whether you plot or pants, if you don’t...
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Writing Memorable Characters, via Finding Nemo
I love living in New York, but there are a few things I miss from Florida. I miss family, and the beach. I miss knowing how the heck to get around without my GPS. And I’ll be honest: I miss Disney....
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How To Share Your Protagonist’s Deepest Feelings With Readers
As writers know, the goal of any book is to make the reader FEEL. We want them to empathize with our characters, feel pulled in by the events and become immersed in the story. When a reader’s...
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How To Turn Your Setting Into An Obstacle Course
As you can imagine, with only a month between us and release day for the Setting Thesaurus books, Becca and I are practically twitching with excitement. More than anything, we can’t wait to show how...
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Level Up Your Setting By Thinking Outside The Box
With the Urban and Rural Setting Thesaurus books releasing in just two weeks (June 13th), pretty much all I can think about is the setting, ergo today’s topic. You guys have no idea how much Becca and...
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Building A Story Garden: The Power Of Settings In Fiction
Bish Denham’s #myfavoritethesaurus Guys, I have to say thanks for the terrific response to our Setting books. Becca and I are both so pleased you’re happy with the newest family members. Thank you for...
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Creating Mood In A Scene Using Light and Shadow
What’s one of the first things a person does to set the mood at home for a romantic evening? She turns down the lights. This simple adjustment is a big step toward creating a calm, receptive...
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The Show, Don’t Tell Description Toolkit #MyWritingKit
Today I’m sharing some amazing tools as part of Verbaleyze’s My Writing Toolkit event, in hopes you might find some new weapons in the battle for strong, compelling description. For those not familiar...
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Hunting Down Story Holes Using a Novel Journal
Hi everyone–I’m happy to welcome author David Stafford to the blog today as he’s tackling something we all wrestle with at some point: Story Holes. Here’s some great advice on how to defeat Story...
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