When you’re writing your story, it’s a good idea to write from the perspective of one of the characters. It allows your story to feel more real and personal to your readers, and they will connect to your character as they share their experiences. However, sometimes you’ll want to hop perspectives to see the story through different eyes.
The belief that in a Universe so huge, so vast and undiscovered, that some huge power would choose to change and shape the world to tell your story is cosmic narcissism. It’s the over inflated sense of self importance that comes with classic narcissism, but without the need for validation or tendency towards bullying. Of course, a cosmic narcissist could also be a toxic narcissist, but not always.
For a successful series, you need more than just the long form conflict. Something needs to happen each episode to tell a short mini story, a mini conflict. For this, you need a conflict engine. In this post, I’ll explore what one is, why it matters, and how to create one.
When you’re reading about a romance between two characters, assuming they’re adults, sex is a likely outcome. Letting your audience into that incredibly personal experience can be very rewarding. However, a badly written sex scene is just awkward and uncomfortable.
When you’re watching a film or a play, the setting of your story is immediately apparent. It’s created by set designers for the story to move through and around. However, when you’re writing a book, it’s your job as the writer to fill in that scenery.
I’ll be exploring how making your characters suffer is important for keeping the conflict active, keeping your story entertaining, and giving your character an interesting arc.
There are various ways you can keep your audience invested in finding out what happens in your story, but here I’ll be talking about Unresolved Sexual Tension.
One of the most important things to consider when you’re writing a story is the relationship between your Protagonist and your audience. If your audience don’t care about what happens to your Protagonist, they won’t care what happens in your story.
When your audience comes to your story, whether reading or watching, they won’t necessarily know what your story is about. They might have a blurb or a synopsis, but often that doesn’t tell them very much. I’m going to talk you through how to tell them quickly, and why it matters.
When you come up with an initial idea for a story, it can be very exciting. Perhaps you’ve invented a world, or thought of a character you want to write about. It fills you with creative urge and you’re dying to start pouring your story out. But then you sit down to write… I’m going to talk you through the process of brainstorming that initial story nugget idea so you can turn one small idea into the plan for a story.