Resources For Writers
From book reviews and recommendations to tips about the craft and updates on the changing publishing landscape, this is where you will find a range of information to help you improve your writing.
Recommended Books For Writers
Screenplay Structure: The Five Plot Points
If the sequences are what shape a screenplay's three-act structure, then the five major plot points are the building blocks behind sequence construction: Inciting Incident, Lock In, Midpoint, Main Culmination, and Third Act Twist. Nearly every well-constructed...
Avoiding Stereotypes in Fiction: People of Color
I was thrilled that Becca, of Writers Helping Writers asked me to be a guest contributor for this important and sensitive topic. I'm not an expert, however, even though I am a Person of Colour, so make sure to do your own research. Everyone has a unique lived...
Oyez, oyez! Check out this Amazing Giveaway
I have a giveaway to tell you about that you absolutely do not want to miss. Angela and Becca, the co-authors of The Emotion Thesaurus, are celebrating their book’s 10th anniversary with a massive giveaway! They’ve scoured the internet for the best tools to help a...
Let Me Count the Ways I Motivate My Protagonist
I've been using the reference texts produced by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglise for longer than I can remember. Once they introduced One Stop for Writers, there was no going back to gazing out the window searching for inspiration. I may have the 'writing gene', like...
Make Your Characters Worry & Sweat
The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (Volume 1) By Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi Every story starts with a character who is motivated by a need and has a goal that can resolve it. Whether their objective is to...
From Blah to Ah!
"You're an idiot." "You're a fool." Harsh words, but when you hear or read them, do you feel excitement and curiosity boil up in your gut? No. On their own, those two statements are bland and unimaginative, a clump or words meant to wound momentarily. Imagine...
Getting Organized to Write, with Tools
I've been writing short and long fiction for decades, but I never was much of a planner. My go-to software was Microsoft Word. However, the longer my documents got, the more unruly Word behaved. My default was to pound out a few thousand words,...
Dialogue – A Lesson from Robert McKee
Robert McKee is the genius behind the go-to writer's guide, Story. His focus is the screenwriting world, but the concepts apply to every genre and form of writing. He's been teaching his methods around the world for decades. McKee doesn't pull any punches. Buy his...
![Poe’s Philosophy Of Composition [long]](https://hyacinthemillerbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/portrait-62996_640-400x250.jpg)
Poe’s Philosophy Of Composition [long]
From: Graham’s Magazine, vol. XXVIII, no. 4, April 1846, 28:163-167 CHARLES DICKENS, in a note now lying before me, alluding to an examination I once made of the mechanism of “Barnaby Rudge,” says — “By the way, are you aware that Godwin wrote his ‘Caleb Williams’...
Mastering Conflict, by Sarah MacLean
New York Times, Washington Post & USA Today bestseller Sarah MacLean is the author of historical romance novels that have been translated into more than twenty languages. Sarah is a leading advocate for the romance genre, speaking widely on its place at the nexus...