If you ask someone what kind of writer they are, they might say they are an overwriter or an underwriter. Both have to do with word counts. Like the names imply, overwriters land well beyond their intended wordcount or what is the standard for their genre, whereas underwriters fall short of it. But just as you'll find Plantsers between the Planners who go into a new project with a highly detailed outline and the Pantsers who prefer to dive in and figure things out as they see

Writers are often encouraged to tell their stories in a way that keeps the reader guessing and wondering what's going to happen next. Laying out all those little breadcrumbs foreshadowing as you guide them through the world you've created. Sometimes, however, your readers might be left wondering not about what is to come but about what has already been. Their curiosity is piqued not by the future, but by the past and what events led the characters to where they are in the pre

Storytelling is in many ways a form of magic. We writers have the ability to craft worlds out of thin air and breathe life into the characters residing in our heads. We have this immense power to make our readers feel things with swashes of ink on the page. It's incredible to think about. Few understand this magic quite like Disney. There's a plethora of articles delving into how these films use the elements of fiction. The way the opening montage of Up conveys Carl and Elli

Outside of writing, one of my greatest loves is video games—as you can probably tell from many posts on the blog. While I have played some recent titles upon their release, my main focus as of late has been playing games I missed out on when they came out because I didn't have the console needed. My latest catch-up has been the Uncharted series after picking up The Nathan Drake Collection (games 1-3) and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End at a thrift shop not so long ago. Uncharted i

Agents, reviewers, and readers alike tend to look for similar bits of information when deciding whether or not to pick up an author's work. This may include the elevator pitch (a brief overview of the story and its characters), length, genre, and category. Genres and categories are often used interchangeably, but doing so is mishandling these terms. One is not a substitute for the other. A book's genre pertains to the type of story it is, such as mystery or fantasy, whereas t

Just as each writer has their own methods and techniques for drafting a new story, we all have our own ways of tackling edits. Some like to jump into revisions as soon as that initial draft is finished, whereas others set the project aside for a bit. You might seek and destroy crutch words before anything else, do a pass solely looking for any plot inconsistencies, or plan to give more attention to that side character who unexpectedly became your favorite. Strategies vary fr