Have you ever read a line of dialogue that just felt off? Grammatically, it was correct, but it didn’t sound right. Chances are, it was breaking a maxim of conversation.             These unspoken rules of dialogue are used every day in the real world, governing what it means to speak properly and creating an uncanny valley affect when broken. You probably already know these maxims intuitively, but being able to put them into words will help you understand why dialogue may so

For St. Nicholas’ day, I got a set of writing dice in my stocking! I've always been curious how they work, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well-crafted they were. I like how the different prompts fit together without being too specific, and I will definitely be using them when I need to procrastinate! Here are some story rolls I made for fun, with some extra character rolls to add in at the end. I’d love to hear your takes on the prompts in the comments! Story 1 A Stubb

Trello is a free tool that uses boards, lists, and cards to organize ideas (not sponsored, but highly recommended). I've been using Trello to organize ideas and projects for a while, but I recently discovered how useful it is for revising a plot. A while back, I realized I needed to take out one of the characters in my WIP The Other Side of the Rainbow. More recently, I decided to rewrite the entire thing, but I still needed to figure out how to take out the character. I want

In honor of Halloween this year, my friends and I watched the movie Coraline . Since I’ve been learning how to write middle grade, I was extremely interested in how they presented the relationship between Coraline and her parents. One of the hallmarks of good middle grade fiction is when the disconnect between the adult and child perspectives is present, but the reader is able to understand and sympathize with both. A lot of writers would have taken a plot like Coraline and

As someone who loves giving feedback on writing, I’ve heard a lot of advice on how to best do that. But starting work at my college’s...

A blustery wind blew through the Gremmington that morning. The crowd gathered in the town square was bundled up and huddled close around...

I’ve never been one to put a lot of thought into what POV to use for a story. That said, Lauren Hildebrand’s talk on choosing point of...

I tend to overthink things. So when I attended a talk on character archetypes at the Young Writer Retreat, I was extremely grateful for...

I recently reread the second part of Refuse to Be Done by Matt Bell to get some guidance on how to proceed with rewriting The Everstone....

Typically, when you speak of imposing your will on something, it is seen as a bad thing. Not with books. If you've ever examined a...

Let me start by saying this is not an exhaustive list. It would probably be impossible to make a list of all the ways to improve a plot,...

I am excited to say I was nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award by the wonderful Lucy K. over at Breathing in Freedom . The award is...

One of the talks I went to at the 2024 Realm Makers Conference was about how to write fight scenes. The speaker was Carla Hoch, who runs...

I drew this fantasy map for a novel I'm planning. The name is still a work in progress, but I've written up some backstory for the...

One of the most satisfying things in the world is a fresh, unbroken book spine. The next most satisfying thing is a book spine that will...

Nobody likes plagiarizers. Except, I suppose, plagiarizers. Though, I would guess, they probably don't appreciate getting called out...

Flowers of the Four Seasons is a Japanese-printed book measuring .75 by .75 mm, currently holding the Guinness World Record for smallest...

Skylar Rivers is the author of the Sky River Write blog, where she posts book reviews, writer interviews, and advice for teens. Despite...

The strangest thing in the world of writing is by far the words. It's quite sad how many wonderfully odd words have been forgotten over...

Most writers have habits or environments that help them think. A short walk, a favorite pen brand, or, in the case of Friedrich von...