Your protagonist doesn’t need to be powerful. They don’t need to save the world. They don’t need to be smart or clever or determined or any other personality trait under the sun. They do need to try to get what they want. Continue reading HERE

on Writing Forward: If you’re the token writer at your office, among your friends, or in your family, then you’re probably asked on a regular basis to edit, review, or proofread written documents. Academic essays, business letters, and resumes will land on your desk with the word “HELP!” scrawled across the top. Or maybe you’re ready to get serious about your writing, and you want to learn best practices for editing so you can clean up your work before sending it to beta readers, submitting to agents, or publishing.

Saturday, November 8, 2025 Hello, all.  You’re an inspired group, and you inspire others, including me.  That inner oomph doesn’t always come easily.  Keeping it can be even more difficult.  So tod…

Author Daniel Kemp has been keeping us entertained with his witty jokes and funny images for the last five years. Currently Danny is in the middle of studying for a degree and is not online very mu…

on Writing Forward: There’s good grammar and bad grammar, proper grammar and poor grammar. Some writers have fun with grammar and for others, grammar’s a bore. But in order to communicate effectively and for our writing to be professional (and publishable), we all need reliable grammar resources. There is no grammar authority, no supreme court of grammar where judges strike down the gavel at grammar offenders.

on Writers Helping Writers: I’ve been thinking a lot recently about character chemistry—that spark, bond, or shared connection we often associate with strong and compelling romantic relationships. But chemistry shouldn’t be limited to love interests. Frodo and Sam, Thelma and Louise, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader…some of the most memorable relationships in fiction had nothing to do with physical attraction. If we can bring chemistry into the protagonist’s friendships, rivalries, or even mentor/protégé and…

Just as the different relationships in your life shape who you are, give comfort, create frustration, fill you with joy or sorrow, and gift you the people that will either help or hinder your life,…

If you’d like to be included in this slot, please get in touch: estherchilton@gmail.com. Poems can be up to 60 lines and prose 2000 words. If you’d like to add a short bio and photo, then great. Al…

On Helping Writers become Authors: Many writers discover that connecting the plot points of a story is far harder than identifying them. It’s easy enough to name the big turning points on a beat sheet, but when you sit down to write the pages that bridge those landmarks, the story can feel as if it’s stalling in the middle. The real challenge (and the true power of story structure) lies in shaping the in-between sections so they carry momentum.

The phrase “what’s my motivation” is a joke in the theater world. I remember rehearsing for a production of Alice in Wonderland when the actor playing the (very minor) role of the Cook, when told to cross the stage when the Duchess enters, yelled out “What’s my motivation” to the director. We all burst into laughter. That’s because the line has become a cliché—mostly spoken by “method” actors who seem pretentious or precious when they ask the question, especially if they have small parts.

Wednesday, November 5, 2025 Whatnot & the Scoobies I was going to do a Wednesday Writing post, then the “Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge” was suggested because its topic was librarie…

on Jane Friedman site: Many authors and industry professionals have cautioned writers against using prologues, perhaps because they’ve seen them done poorly—as information dumps, meandering attempts to provide background, or vehicles to show off research. But prologues do have a place in some novels. Done well, they can intrigue readers and ignite interest in the story to come. Several different types of prologues are reviewed here, along with examples of effective ones. Continue reading HERE

on Fiction University: If you can’t explain why a scene exists, you probably shouldn’t write it Writers ask a lot of questions while drafting a novel—who are the characters, how does the worldbuilding work, what are the goals, motivations, and plot twists? And readers have their own questions driving them forward. Will the hero win? Will the lovebirds fall in love?

This list, authored by Marie Ann Bailey and me, was first published on October 14, 2013. Since authors are still trying to get published traditionally, it might be helpful. Top Ten Things No…

on Writing Forward: Today’s post features a selection of prompts from my book 1200 Creative Writing Prompts. Enjoy! At some point in their lives, all artistic people run into creative walls. Writers lose inspiration so frequently, they have their own special term for it: writer’s block. Luckily, writing ideas don’t have to magically appear in order for creativity to flow.

on Writers Helping Writers: As an ADHD Coach who works with a lot of writers, one of the most common questions I get from clients is: How can I be consistent with my writing? I have been there myself, trying to trick my brain into showing up on a regular basis for my writing. Schedules, pep talks, forcing myself to sit at my desk even if I didn’t write a word.

Saturday, November 1, 2025 Hi, everyone and happy November.  I hope November will stick around longer than October, or September, or August, or…  You get it — time flies.   In fact, time flew…

on Writing Forward: Charles Dickens invented the word boredom. Sylvia Path coined the term dreamscape. William Shakespeare gave us bandit, swagger, and gossip, along with over 1,700 other words that previously didn’t exist in the English lexicon. Writers have a long history of inventing new words, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. When we encounter an idea or concept and no clear way to express it, creating new language is a practical solution. Plus, making up new words is fun. Continue reading HERE

on Live Write Thrive: Stories live and breathe through relationships (just as our own lives do). Every memorable tale—whether it’s a sweeping epic, a small-town romance, or a heart-pounding thriller—hinges on how people interact with one another. It isn’t just the protagonist’s journey that matters but how that journey is shaped, tested, and illuminated by others along the way. Every character in a story, from the central hero to the bit player who appears only once, should feel like a real person with needs, fears, and desires of their own.

TURN YOUR SOUND ON

On Jane Friedman site: The characters we create are begging to be treated as real people. And our readers want to see themselves in the characters that fill our pages. They want to recognize the foibles and frustrations, the mistakes, and the triumphs that characters in our stories experience. Life coaches help clients gain insights that uncover how they are shaping their own life stories.

In the writing community, much has been said about how to make a character likable and/or sympathetic. And I've written ways to do that myself, but there is one technique I've found that is one of the most impactful (in my opinion, anyway), and can often be quick. Many writers remark that we need to put the character in unfortunate circumstances, so the audience will readily root for him.