When writing fiction, tension is critical for reader engagement. As a writer, we want our readers to ‘not want to put the book down.’ When talking tension, I’ll cover three situations writers can create for dramatic tension. Mystery, Suspense, and Dramatic Irony. […]

After you’ve written your first (or second or third) draft, it’s time to go through your manuscript and cut out any unneeded words cluttering it up. Wordiness muddles your message, slows momentum, and drags an anchor through the forward movement of your […]

In Interrogation Techniques part one, I discussed verbal cues and how to use them to detect lies from a perpetrator. Although verbal cues can lead to a confession, many suspects are able to lie as easy as breathing. Through conscious thought and […]

Interrogations can be difficult to write. Too many writers get this wrong. This is usually due to the fact many people have only seen interrogations performed on television or in movies. I will admit television shows and movies provide great action scenes, […]

One of the most difficult concepts for aspiring authors occurs when you bounce around from one character’s perspective to another, revealing the inner thoughts and feelings of multiple characters, without a proper scene break or clear signal. When you ping-pong back and […]

Writers are notorious for their love of words. Because of this, we have a hard time targeting certain words as enemies. If you don’t take the time to dig deep in your manuscript, searching for enemy words, you risk weakening your story. […]

What Does “Show, Don’t Tell” Mean? Good writing tends to draw an image in the reader’s mind instead of just telling the reader what to think or believe. Here’s a sentence that tells: Mr. Jeffries was a fat, ungrateful old man. That […]

Writing constructively sounds simple enough, but the truth is, writing is tough. If the craft were easy, everyone would be doing it. This isn’t to say bad storytelling doesn’t exist because we’ve all come across terribly written stories. As an author, it’s […]

Many people have a deep desire to write a novel but just can’t seem to get it done. Here are six tips that should help. 1. “Where do I begin my story?” This is the most common question I get from new […]