The importance of goal-setting dominates a lot of the conversation when it comes to having a productive and meaningful writing life. There’s lots of (good and bad) advice out there about how to set the right goals for you, including SMART goals (Specific,...
This year, I had the privilege to attend Thrillerfest, an incredible annual writing conference put on by International Thriller Writers, for the second time. The whole experience was a blast, and I learned a lot, both from the workshops themselves and from the rest of...
When people think about incorporating theme, it can conjure cringe-worthy images of characters preaching to each other about the author’s intentions and cornily weaving in a “moral” that leaves readers feeling condescended to. One of my favorite...
Welcome back to my series on endings! Today, I want to talk about the importance of what I’m calling the final battle, which is really where your protagonist and antagonist finally deal with the major conflict head-on. Your hero fights the dragon, summits the...
Personally, one thing that I often find most compelling (or most upsetting) about an ending is how it goes about addressing the changes its major (and minor) characters have experienced over the course of the story. This is true in every form of fiction, but...
