Readers long to feel connected to the characters they are reading about, but they often find the first person POV irritating. This gap...

In my blog on the seven story archetypes, I talked about two types of stories (the quest and the voyage and return). These both see the...

Conflict is essential in novel writing, but many writers underestimate its power. Often, they’re too scared to really put the pressure on...

Every character in a story has a role to play. There are many different types of characters, who may or may not make an appearance, but...

The rarest POV in fiction is the second person POV. In the second person POV, the writer uses the pronoun ‘you’ in place of ‘I’, ‘he’ or...

Characters are the lifeblood of novels. They drive the plot forward and give us someone to identify with. We read on to find out what’s...

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of writing – one that most writers will have a strong opinion about – is the plotter or pantser...

One of the most popular POVs in modern literature is the first-person POV. A first person POV is written using first person pronouns (I,...

Whether you are a plotter or a pantser, developing a premise early on in your writing process can be massively helpful. It allows you to...

A theme is an integral part of storytelling. It creates memorable stories, giving them deeper meaning. You’ve probably already come...

Several weeks ago, I talked about the three-act structure, and I said that this was one of many structures authors could use in their...

Structuring your writing is essential, but it can be challenging to know how to structure your novel. The good news is that there are...

Historical fiction comes in many different forms. It can cross over with many other genres to form incredible sub-genres. In this blog...

Novels are about characters. Their journeys are what keeps us turning the pages to find out what happens. But it’s more than that; we...

Novels are essentially stories that take us from the beginning to the end of the narrative, but it doesn’t always happen in that order....

Historical fiction is a genre that has gained massive popularity over the last decade, with authors like Philippa Gregory, Hilary Mantel...

Humans like consistency and are drawn to familiarity. That’s why there are so many tropes in literature. But what are tropes? And should...

Every novel has a narrator, and the perspective from which the story is told is called a narrative point of view (POV). Many writers,...

There are certain elements that every story needs to succeed – for example, strong characters and realistic settings – but one of the...

One of the most common questions a writer is asked, after ‘what’s your book about?’, is what genre your book falls into. Thankfully, the...