Now Novel
Learning how to write a novella is excellent preparation for writing your first novel. It enables you to work out characters and themes more extensively than a short story does. Writing a novella gives you helpful scaffolding for an expanded and more detailed book or series. Read on for a definition of the novella and 6 essential tips for writing one:
Including poetry in your fiction can have many benefits and enhance your storyline. We look at ways to include poetry in your stories.
A well-structured story is satisfying to read, as independent parts feel cohesive and related. Read a definition of story structure, followed by effective story structure examples and their insights.
Learn how to write the first chapter of a book in such a way that you tease but don’t give everything away and hook readers with implication and context.
There are many types of exposition in stories, in literature, film and other media. Exposition introduces your reader to important and intriguing details of your story – who, what, why, where and when. Read 9 exposition examples that show how to introduce characters, settings and scenarios memorably:
Writing the middle of a novel has its own unique challenges. You need to develop your story further after your engrossing start and set in place the build to the end. The curse of the ‘sagging middle’ can’t take hold. Read 9 tips on how to write the middle of a story and get it right:
The short story has a long and rich tradition, spanning everything from the Gothic tales of Poe to contemporary masterpieces. Writing a short story will improve your writing skills, as you can apply many of the techniques you master in the process to longer forms. Telling a complete story in 5,000 words rather than 100,000 nurtures your storytelling abilities because you:
Learning how to make a good story great requires mastering the essentials of writing craft: Plot (cause and effect), characterization, narration, description and dialogue. If you’ve written a good story but feel it could be more interesting, these 9 steps will help you transform it into a better first draft:
If you want to become a better author, learning how to end a book well is crucial. After the final page, the reader shouldn’t feel how Dorothy Parker did when she (allegedly) wrote in a review, ‘This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force’. Here are 8 tips to write better story endings:
