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How To Write Shop

Articles on the craft and business of writing

Writing Tips

The Author’s Crystal Ball of Suspense: Foreshadowing

April 25, 2011 by Kathy Steffen 2 Comments

Foreshadowing pays off if you do it right (and really falls flat if you don’t.) Think of foreshadowing as planting subtle clues for the reader of something that is going to happen later in the story—that something being of major importance.

Posted in: Plotting, Writing Craft, Writing Tips Tagged: adding suspense, foreshadow, writing mysteries, writing tips

Writing a Page Turner: What’s the Big Idea?

February 7, 2011 by Kathy Steffen 7 Comments
Writing a Page Turner

Writing a page-turning novel is so much more than planning plot twists and fast-moving action. A page-turning novel begins with an idea that is so compelling it draws a reader in from the first word and never lets go. So where do you start when thinking about writing your page-turning novel?

Posted in: Pacing, Plotting, Writing Tips Tagged: creative writing exercises, inspiration, page turning novel

Character Checklist for Book-Carrying Characters

August 4, 2010 by Lori Devoti 4 Comments
Rhett and Scarlett

What makes a book or movie special…makes it stick with you long after the cover is closed and the final credits have rolled? The special effects? The car chase? The slapstick comedy? Maybe for a while, but stories that really have lasting power contain one thing, great characters. And, honestly, building great book-carrying characters isn’t as … [Read more…]

Posted in: Characters, Writing Craft, Writing Tips Tagged: characters, checklist, writing tips
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