The Art of Making Things Up As You Go
When it comes to writing, I’m definitely a pantser. I suppose this tracks, since I’m also a TTRPG nerd, and the entire game is just responding to what the gamemaster says and hoping things work…
storytelling
A (Or Three) Cinderella Stories
Show of hands: Who else remembers when the 1997 Cinderella starring Brandy came out? *Glances around* ✋ Right, moving on. I did, indeed, see Brandy’s Cinderella when it came out and enjoyed it in the…
Consistency Is Key (Or at Least Nice to Have)
**SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for Toy Story 4 (which I’m sure many people have seen by now, but I wanted to give the warning anyway). 🟪 🟪 🟪 I saw the Toy Story…
Different Does Not Mean Unrelatable
Shortly after the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement got going in 2014, I felt stumped. Granted, I was very new to the book world then, but I was also someone who’d been reading avidly for two decades and…
Presenting: Immersive Storytelling in Action
If you navigate to any of the main pages of my site (listed above in a neat menu for your convenience), you’ll find it’s no secret my angle on fiction. I combine my MFA with…
When Cliffhangers Work (And When They’re Just Annoying)
I first heard the Wicked Original Broadway Cast recording in 2024, and within the first few seconds of “Loathing,” I was hooked. It became my favorite musical and has stayed so until today. When I…
Sometimes, You Even Forget Good Stories
Given my entire editorial vibe is “let’s make your story unforgettable,” this probably seems like a blog post that will work against me. After all, isn’t the whole purpose to remember good stories? Short answer:…
4 Techniques to Keep Readers Turning Pages of a Multi-Pov Novel
Turning a page is such a small, simple action. And yet, getting readers to continuously do it several hundred times can be a herculean task. Of course, the turning of pages can be metaphoric, and…
Writing a Book with Multiple POVs Part 2: Story
Picture it: Holiday, year of choice. Fifteen people sit around a table, three of whom decide they will tell the story of an event they all recently attended. As they do, the other twelve sit…
Writing a Book with Multiple POVs Part 1: Structure
Writing multiple perspectives in a novel can be likened to the common idiom “there are two sides to every story,” where you replace “two” with however many characters’ points-of-view (or POVs) are used to tell…