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Welcome to Storm Writing School!

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Index of Posts

10 Lessons from “Cat Person” on Character Interiority

100 Books Published in 2023 for Your TBR Pile

12 Ways to Be an Invisible Writer

3 Techniques for Creating Tension

4 Common Failures in Story Cause/Effect

A Compendium of Novel Structure Resources

A Glossary of Assorted Writing Craft Terms

Action vs. Information: Convey Info without Stalling the Story

Approaching the Workshop

Author, Narrator, Character

Captivating Protagonists: The Essentials

Centrifugal Forces: How a Character Doesn’t Want What They Desire

Common Problems in Manuscripts

Create a Moving Character Arc

Create Sentiment; Avoid Sentimentality

Creating Suspense

Dealing with Criticism and Rejections

Delight: The Secondary Source of Reader Engagement

Dramatic Prognosis: a tool for designing strong plots and improving weak ones

Earning Story Events

Escalating Complications

Exposition in Dialogue

Formatting Character Thoughts

Freytag’s Pyramid Doesn’t Deserve the Hate

How a Scene List Can Help Your Revision

How and Why to Write Your Back-Cover Synopsis Early

How to Create Compelling Story Action

How to Create Story Momentum

How to Maintain Perspective When Encountering Writing Advice

How to Make a DIY Writing Retreat

How to Use Objects to Create More Powerful Stories

How to Write While You’re Freaking Out

How Your Attitude and Approach Toward Habits Can Revitalize Your Writing Practice

Irony is Central to Storytelling

Juggle External Action and Interiority

Narrating Deep or Shallow: The Spectrum of Psychic Distance

Novel Structure: An Aggregate Paradigm

Page-level Storytelling: Four Ways to Break Down Your Narration

Prepping for Beta Reading

Readers to Help You Write Your Book

Revision for Haters

Scene vs. Summary

Should You Use Dialogue Tags Other Than “Said”?

Show, Don’t Tell Disambiguation

Story Consumption: How to Read Like a Writer

Stretch Tension to Maximize Suspense

Subjective Conflict

The Case for Messy Character Motivation

The Case for Pantsing

The Character Mixing Board

The Essence of Standout Characters

The Essentials of Orienting Your Reader

The Key to Epiphanies, Realizations, and Moments of Clarity

The Key to Reader Engagement

The Pitfalls of Emotional Body Language in Your Writing

The Problem with “Show, Don’t Tell”

The Storm Writing School Mission

The True Source of Voice

The Two Imperatives for Compelling Dialogue

The Two Roles of the Beginning

Theme Is Not Optional

Time Digressions in Narration

To Filter or Not to Filter

Tools for Big Picture Editing of Your Novel

Triangulate Dialogue

Turning Points Propel Your Story

Two Conflicts: Problems vs. Obstacles

Use “Urgent Story Questions” to Create Tension

Use Beats to Move Characters within Scenes

Varieties of Omniscience

Verisimilitude: What it is and how it works

What Does the Inciting Incident Actually Do?

What Is a Beat, Anyway?

Why Most Writing Rules Can Be Broken

Why the Hero’s Journey May Not Be Right for Your Story

Why You Need Strong Antagonists in Your Story

Why Your Story’s Conflict May Fail to Grip Readers

Writing Character Emotion

Your Writing Needs to Be Better Than Game of Thrones

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