If you want to take your story from good to great, you need to get serious about creating memorable characters. No matter what genre of fiction you write, good characters are key to your story's success. It can be the one thing that elevates your book, movie, or game from "pretty good" to cult classic. … Continue reading The Key to Creating Memorable Characters: Lessons from a Fan Favourite
Star Wars
Writing Wins from Star Wars: Visions
Star Wars: Visions is one of the coolest ideas the Star Wars franchise has ever come up with. It allows people all across the world to make Star Wars their own while showcasing their talents to a huge audience—how amazing is that? I liked the first season of Visions, but not enough to write anything … Continue reading Writing Wins from Star Wars: Visions
What We Learn from a Character’s First Scenes in The Force Awakens
May the Fourth be with you! It's no secret that I'm a Star Wars nerd. As I talked about last month, Star Wars shaped me both as a person and a writer as I was growing up. Love or hate certain parts of it, there's no doubt that Star Wars has, in all likelihood, the … Continue reading What We Learn from a Character’s First Scenes in The Force Awakens
The Stories that Shaped Me: Star Wars
How do you like Tuesdays? Specifically, what do you think of my Tuesday blog posts? I think it's beneficial to talk about good (and bad) stories so that we can learn from what others have done. Let me know your opinion in the comments! For now, I'm starting yet another new series about the stories … Continue reading The Stories that Shaped Me: Star Wars
The Thrawn Trilogy: The Importance of Story “Cleanup”
There are good endings, the ones that leave us crying or make us smile, blessing us with a feeling of wonderful satisfaction. There are bad endings, the ones that make us yell and throw our books against the wall. Why do we never talk about the "meh" endings? Because they, perhaps, are the worst kind … Continue reading The Thrawn Trilogy: The Importance of Story “Cleanup”
Heir to the Empire: A Lesson on How to Weave Together Story Threads
Looking for a quick, thrilling read to sink your teeth into? Check out my books here! I know, I know. It's taken me way too long to read Heir to the Empire. For those of you not immersed in the Star Wars galaxy, Heir to the Empire is like the Star Wars book. As in, … Continue reading Heir to the Empire: A Lesson on How to Weave Together Story Threads
Where the Star Wars hotel went wrong and what it means for creators
Two Star Wars posts in as many days? It's a record. Actually, I had a totally different post queued for today, but when I hopped onto Twitter for a minute yesterday to check something, I couldn't help but see this headline: ...and I busted out laughing. (Here's the link to the article, by the way.) … Continue reading Where the Star Wars hotel went wrong and what it means for creators
Has the Magic of Star Wars Been Lost?
*the Force Theme plays distantly in the background* Some of my earliest memories are of Obi-Wan and Anakin chasing a bounty hunter through Coruscant, Yoda riding on Luke's back, and Darth Maul wielding his dual-bladed lightsaber. With my older sister becoming thoroughly obsessed with Star Wars just after I was born, I grew up with … Continue reading Has the Magic of Star Wars Been Lost?
Pacing That Ending
Oh, if only there were a way to avoid writing endings. While they are, of course, instrumental, impactful, and the main takeaway for your readers, they're also hard. You have a lot to wrap up: your plot, your character's journey, your themes... It's one of the most difficult parts of writing a story. Since good … Continue reading Pacing That Ending
Quote of the Day
“Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery, hmm… but weakness, folly, failure also. Yes: failure, most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is.” —Yoda in The Last Jedi
The Story Canvas 