Many people dedicate this time of year to spring cleaning, tidying things up around the house and doing all the things they put off during the colder weather. Spring cleaning can also include downsizing. Sorting through items you no longer need and donating them can be restorative, but it can also come with the melancholy of letting go. Whether it's an article of clothing that doesn't fit the same but was a birthday gift from a now-deceased relative or a souvenir from a trip

It's not uncommon for writers to call their WIP their "baby" or treat their characters like their children. It makes sense. After all, we're nurturing these stories and watching them grow from vague concepts floating around our heads to deep and meaningful stories that evoke emotions in our readers. It's a long, strenuous, rewarding process. Writers hold their projects close. We pour ourselves onto the page, opening old wounds as we heal. Cherished memories, secrets buried in

Last week, we explored plot armor and how to incorporate it into your writing with a sense of realism. This is something of an offshoot. I originally intended for there to be a section within that initial post discussing injuries in relation to plot armor, but it ultimately made more sense to cover that topic on its own. So here we are. To recap the aforementioned post, plot armor is a layer of protection given to fictional characters, most often the protagonist, in order to

Have you ever read a book where a character survives injuries that should have caused severe damage? Are they able to walk away from combat wholly unscathed? Do they inexplicably make it out alive of something that would have surely killed anyone who is not a fictional character landing in the safety net that is suspension of disbelief? Chances are, they're wearing plot armor. Plot armor refers to how characters manage to come out of dangerous scenarios with minimal damage if

It's rare that there is only one approach to writing or one single way to go about storytelling. Writers find their own ways of handling things, and their methods evolve over time. Long-time readers of the blog know I prefer writing my first drafts by hand whenever possible. It's not the most efficient method, as it's time-consuming not only to do the writing itself but type everything up in whichever software I'm using, but I've found it's easier to write when the distractio