Don’t Be Horrified if Your Second Draft Is a (Really) Rough Draft
If you read last week’s Writing Rule #28, then you might be thinking that you recognize the blog post title above. In which case, you’re rig
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Jeannette DiLouie
Jul 14, 20173 min read
Don’t Be Horrified if Your First Draft Is a (Really) Rough Draft
Well, we’re up to Writing Rule #28 and discussing first drafts, which admittedly can be pretty bad.
Here’s a common enough story about the
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Jeannette DiLouie
Jul 7, 20172 min read
Surprise! That Story Ending You Want to Write Might Not Work
Writing out a surprise story ending can sound like a really great idea in theory, and sometimes it can play out perfectly in practice too.
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Jeannette DiLouie
Jun 30, 20173 min read
Your Falling Action Probably Doesn’t Need a Deus Ex Machina
Since it’s not necessarily a commonly understood term, let’s define deus ex machina right from the get-go.
According to my go-to resource,
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Jeannette DiLouie
Jun 23, 20172 min read
Don’t Drag Out Your Story’s Drama Too Long
I know I already said this with Writing Rule #24 about rising action, but it’s true of a story’s climax too: Drama gets old fast.
That’s wh
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Jeannette DiLouie
Jun 16, 20173 min read
Don’t Bore Readers in Your Rising Action Scenes
Believe it or not, action scenes can get boring. Like really, really, really boring.
That’s why the rising action segment in your story sho
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Jeannette DiLouie
Jun 9, 20173 min read
What You DO NOT Want to Do to Be Traditionally Published
Here’s the thing about being traditionally published: You have to follow the traditional publishing industry rules... or be really, really g
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Jeannette DiLouie
Jun 2, 20173 min read
Writing Rule #22: Your Writing Style Isn’t Completely Stable
Creative writers are never completely stable people, so why would we ever think our styles and skills would be static?
Put simply, they’re
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Jeannette DiLouie
May 26, 20173 min read
Writing Rule #21: Ann, Tommy, Lantana, Bill, James and Jen Walk Into a Bar
How many points of view do you need in a story? And how many are too many?
Those are very subjective questions, but let’s give them a shot
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Jeannette DiLouie
May 19, 20174 min read
“Said” Is Not the Only Dialogue Tag Available to Authors
Whether a writer chooses to use dialogue tags all the time or none of the time or some of the time is their own business. Every author has h
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Jeannette DiLouie
May 12, 20173 min read
If You Want to Dialogue Like a Pro, Know Your Characters
Before I come right out and state Writing Rule #19, I need to address an issue that comes up way too often when writers are working on chara
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Jeannette DiLouie
May 5, 20174 min read
At This Point, Nobody Cares About Your Story’s Setting Anymore
We’re now up to Writing Rule #18, which reads this way:
There’s a certain point where setting descriptions get intensely unnecessary.
S
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Jeannette DiLouie
Apr 28, 20173 min read
Clichéd Characters Aren’t Cool
I think that last week’s Writing Rule was probably my favorite so far. But #17 is a close second, since it addresses the awful issue of clic
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Jeannette DiLouie
Apr 21, 20174 min read
It’s Not Your Villain’s Job to Explain the Whole Plot
I’ll admit that I’m cheating a bit with Writing Rule #16.
It’s not that it isn’t 100% true. It’s that I’m crossing from the realm of villai
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Jeannette DiLouie
Apr 14, 20173 min read
Is Your Protagonist a Sympathetic Character?
We’re onto Writing Rule #15 today, and it goes like this:
No matter what you do with your protagonist’s personality, storyline or motivatio
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Jeannette DiLouie
Apr 7, 20173 min read
Do You Need to Kill Off That Character of Yours?
With last week’s Writing Rule being #13, I made sure to stress that it wasn’t scary.
But #14? I’m sorry to say this, but I have no such gua
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Jeannette DiLouie
Mar 31, 20173 min read
Biting Off More Subplots Than You Can Chew Isn’t Scary, Just Tedious
I know some people are afraid of this next number, but Writing Rule #13 isn’t a scary one. Not unless you ignore it, in which case the rate
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Jeannette DiLouie
Mar 24, 20173 min read
Even Shakespeare’s Plays Weren’t Original
Most writers at least flirt with the idea of originality: of coming up with some story line that’s never been done before.
In one sense, an
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Jeannette DiLouie
Mar 17, 20173 min read
How Much You Care About Your Story Premise Makes a Difference
Here’s Writing Rule #11, and it’s an important one to keep in mind.
Admittedly, all the writing rules are important to keep in mind. If the
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Jeannette DiLouie
Mar 10, 20173 min read
Choose Your Fellow Short Story Writers Wisely… Or Else
We’re up to Writing Rule #10, a big milestone for 2017, clearly.
Yet, sarcasm aside, this really can change your writing career. If you han
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