Have you ever felt the breathless anticipation of seeing the next chapter from your new favourite story drop? There's nothing quite like serial fiction. No other kind of story causes such eagerness and intense expectation, so it's no wonder the medium has been around so long! Many of today's beloved classics like Little Women and … Continue reading You’re Missing One Thing from Your Serialised Story
storytelling
From E.J. Robison to The Story Canvas! 🎉
So...funny story. Remember when I asked you all to vote on a blog title last week? Well, I really meant it. I promise I did. But the plain ol' truth is that I'm terrible with titles. After asking around and searching all over the internet, these five were the best I could come up with: … Continue reading From E.J. Robison to The Story Canvas! 🎉
Writing Resources: Daniel David Wallace
Let's be honest: there are a lot of people teaching writing skills online. And in many ways, that's a good thing. You have so many choices for advice about plot, character, narration… Why spend your time with me? Another way of asking that question is: what is "character-first writing," and why should I care about … Continue reading Writing Resources: Daniel David Wallace
Treasure Planet: The Storytelling Masterpiece We’ve All Been Ignoring for Two Decades
Space pirates. Incredibly designed aliens. Spaceships with sails. Cyborgs. A cute alien blob creature. What isn’t there to love about Treasure Planet? And I didn’t even mention the characters or plot yet! This post was extremely difficult for me to write because I love (read: LOVE!!!) this movie—so it’s hard to not just gush and … Continue reading Treasure Planet: The Storytelling Masterpiece We’ve All Been Ignoring for Two Decades
Emotional Writing 101: How to Connect with Readers on a Deeper Level
Writing isn't intuitive. Sure, I think that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, but even the best of writers don't know it all. We all need to learn, and one of the most foundational concepts of writing that we will be practising for the rest of our lives is writing with emotion. It sounds … Continue reading Emotional Writing 101: How to Connect with Readers on a Deeper Level
Why Writers Should Watch TV
"Stay away from screens - they rot your brain!" everyone cries. And this is certainly true - getting too much screen time day after day brings a slew of terrible side effects for both mental and physical health. But, just like most activities, watching TV isn't inherently bad (unless, well, what you're watching is inherently … Continue reading Why Writers Should Watch TV
Do You Really Know Your Book’s Genre?
After working with authors from all over the world on many kinds of different story projects, I've seen a common theme. Many times, they present me with their masterpiece and I can instantly tell that the writing is good - but something is missing from the story. Something very important. Maybe there's no character development, a … Continue reading Do You Really Know Your Book’s Genre?
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
Why Does It Matter to Tell Stories that Matter?
Why do we tell stories? You could probably give me at least a million different reasons. We tell stories to entertain, distract, raise awareness, help others, even just to make money. Everyone has their own reason. But really, every storyteller has something in common. Deep down—so deep down, in some cases, that the person doesn't … Continue reading Why Does It Matter to Tell Stories that Matter?
What Makes Your Book Different?: Basic Storytelling Elements Part 6
Welcome to my ten-part series where we’ll be going through the ten basics of storytelling as outlined in my guidebook The 10 Lost Elements of Storytelling – a book you can get for free by subscribing to my newsletter! In these posts, we’ll be going over the basics of these storytelling elements, but my guidebook is more detailed … Continue reading What Makes Your Book Different?: Basic Storytelling Elements Part 6
The Story Canvas 