Archetypes

Archetypes

Archetypes. They’re not stereotypes! I’m delving into creating characters for my next Zodiac novel and fooling with archetypes. Definitions Stereotypes are an oversimplification of a type of person—the evil, mustache twirling villain who does bad things for the pure...
Writing to Trope

Writing to Trope

We all like to think that we write original stories that no one has ever written before. In a sense that’s true. On the other hand, it’s also highly likely that your story falls into a trope. According to Wikipedia, a trop is “a writer’s usage of commonly...
Do you really need to show that?

Do you really need to show that?

Is it possible to have too much “show” and not enough “tell” in your novel? First, a quick reminder of the terms: Showing is when you have an entire scene, complete with action, outer dialogue, and, most of the time, inner dialogue. We see what is happening in real...
How to plot a romance novel

How to plot a romance novel

I was recently asked for references on how to plot a romance. As someone who’s been writing in the genre for years and reading as many books on the craft of writing as I can, I had very few recommendations for romance-specific craft books. It’s not that...

World Conflict (in fiction)

How interesting is your world? Is it interesting enough that you would want to live there? Too interesting that it would terrify you to do so? I recently heard about someone who created a world so dull that she didn’t even want to create her story anymore (it was a...