You’ve spent months, maybe even years writing a story. Now you’re nearing the end of your characters’ journey and you’re thinking, “How in the hell do I wrap this up?” You’re not alone. Writing endings can be one of the most stressful parts of storytelling. If you’re writing from an outline, you may find that […]
When I started writing this blog, my goal was to write a new post every week. “That’ll be pretty easy,” I told myself, “No problem.” I’m staring at the date of my last post, which was over a month ago, and wondering, “What the hell happened?” Real life happened.
Distractions, distractions, distractions Read More »
The single best thing I’ve done to improve my writing was learning how to write sketch comedy. Sketch comedy is the guerilla warfare version of storytelling. In sketch, you don’t have 50,000 words to tell a story. Or an hour. Or half an hour. You have to tell an entire story – beginning, transition, climax,
3 sketch comedy tips that writers should use Read More »
Back in 2005, I walked into my first class at the Second City Training Center in Chicago. The class was “Introduction to Comedy Writing” or ICW and our instructor was the multitalented Ranjit Souri. The first thing he had us do was sit down with our notebooks and free write. About anything. The key was
Free writing – Tips & tools to get you writing Read More »
A while back, someone on Reddit Writing asked for some advice on plots. He had good characters, a solid setting, and lots of details to create a world on the page, but was missing the essential element of a good plot. Plots can be daunting. Let’s break it down, starting at the beginning. First thing’s
How to write a plot Read More »
You hear it all the time. “Oh, I wish I could write something, but I keep getting writer’s block.” It’s probably the most used excuse in writing, and for a lot of people it feels like something that keeps us from fulfilling our dreams of one day writing that best-selling novel. I’ve been writing for
Writer’s block – a figment of our imaginations Read More »
