by Mark Cheverton | Sep 13, 2018 | Writing Tips
In stories, the opening scene is super important. It must capture the attention of the reader like a constricting snake and refuse to let go. This scene must make the reader say to himself/herself “Wow, that’s really interesting; I wonder what’s going to happen next?”...
by Mark Cheverton | Sep 5, 2018 | Writing Tips
Recently, when I start thinking about a new story, I find myself really focusing on the character and their flaw. Character flaw – Every hero must have some kind of flaw to them. They can’t be perfect, and they can’t be totally despicable. We want the reader to root...
by Mark Cheverton | Jul 19, 2018 | Writing Tips
When I first started writing, I did a terrible job with the two topics of this post: echoing and character names. This is a problem I see in many young writers as well as some older, inexperienced writers like I was a few years ago. Echoing is the use of words...
by Mark Cheverton | May 6, 2018 | Writing Tips
The Dark Night of the Soul (DNofS) is likely one of the most important parts of your plot and deserves significant attention when you are developing your story. Let me try to define what it is, or at least how I use it. Dark Night of the Soul: This is a scene in the...
by Mark Cheverton | May 4, 2018 | Writing Tips
Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___. The above paragraph is referred to as Pixar’s Rule #4. A Pixar storyboard artist, Emma Coats, @lawnrocket, compiled a list story wisdom she...