Building Your World in Your First Line

by | Sep 26, 2017 | Writing Tips

Jonathan Ammon   When we’re leaving a bookstore, my wife Tatiana and I like to play a game: we go through our bag of purchases, and we read aloud the first line from each of the new books. Whoever has the book with the agreed-upon best first line wins. Our game...

Narrative Summary – How? Why? When?

by | Jul 26, 2017 | Writing Tips

Teresa Crumpton   I get it that, in fiction, dramatic events need to be shown in scene. A single point-of-view character wants something and strives against obstacles to get it—all shown in the real-time of the story. And mundane events need to be omitted or...

How To Write the Emotion-Packed Scene

by | Jan 29, 2017 | Writing Tips

Teresa Crumpton   Get Inside Your Character’s Head At the start of a story, I like to be very deep inside my character because I hope my readers will empathize with the character and come along for the story journey. I practice seeing through his eyes. Depending...

Ways to Create Subtext

by | Jan 17, 2017 | Writing Tips

Teresa Crumpton   “…but I know it when I see it—” Subtext can be hard to define, but it’s worth the effort. It makes room for the part of a scene the intelligent reader brings to the story. Of course, the expertise of the clever-and-confident author sparks the...

Early Questions to Shape Your Story

by | Dec 26, 2016 | Writing Tips

Teresa Crumpton   Blank pages are not scary (A mantra to chant while you shower.) The next time you’re faced with another beginning writing session, consider this strategy. Don’t lose a moment; show those naked passages who’s boss, and whip out your handy-dandy...

Battling the Dreaded SAP

by | Oct 19, 2016 | Writing Tips

Teresa Crumpton     When I’m editing fiction or nonfiction, one of the most common speed bumps I trip on is The Simultaneous Action Problem (SAP). Sounds serious, right? It’s not. It’s also known as the As/While Issue, and it’s just a speedbump. It happens...