What do you fear most in your writing life? Take a moment to evaluate if it truly is likely to do you serious harm. If the answer is no, then I invite you to make a point of doing this very thing
There have to be (at least) two things going on {in each scene/story} that can play off against each other, inform each other, head off and rejoin each other, twist around and complicate.
story development separates into two sequential realms: the search for story… following by the rendering of story.http://storyfix.com/a-mindset-shift-that-can-get-you-published
That first realm – the search for your story – can happen in many ways. It can happen in your head. It can happen through a series of drafts. It can happen through an anal-retentive and madly obsessive process of story planning. Or some combination of the above...
an effective... story {is} written in context to a full understanding of the Big Picture from the very first page.
irrespective of whether you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you.
deus ex machina is just a failure to properly foreshadow things.
Giving the reader a question she wants to know the answer to is not the same as withholding the interesting stuff until the end.
A good goal/ motivation can be defined in a just a few words, or even just one word.
give {your societies} contradictions, strengths, lofty desires, and irrational fears
The strategic purpose of a denouement is to reorient the characters towards the next phase of their lives.http://www.plottopunctuation.com/blog/show/does-your-denouement-murder-your-characters
We don’t need to be told just what that new, better future is... When the plot is done, suddenly the doors of possibility are thrown wide open. The characters might now choose anything. They might do anything... You had your turn. Now it’s our turn, but only if you allow us to imagine what the characters might do next. If you imagine it for us, we can’t.
