Every story has a beginning, middle, and ending, but when it comes to plotting and outlining, things become much more complex than just pen and paper. Writers and authors can take many different approaches to plotting and outlining a novel or short story before taking on the drafting stage. Some writers use the Snowflake Method, some use the Saving Cat Method, and others use the good ole Plot Diagram. For this post, I'll be discussing combining the three-act structure with Ni

Character relationships woven within fictional stories aren't always discussed among fiction writers, but they play a significant role in the story layout and plotline of plays, short stories, novels, or books. Just like people in real life, characters also form and build relationships among other characters in a story, which either help or hinder their story goals and inner transformation journeys during a storyline. Let's go over the four main relationship dynamics writers

Second-person point-of-view is the least common point-of-view used in fiction, and mostly present in poetry, self-help non-fiction books, educational textbooks, instructional writing, or interactive narratives. It's also the most intimate and immediate, merging the reader with the narrative written text. As there are with first-person , third-person limited , and third-person omniscient , there are certain key points that are important when using this rare particular point-of

Third-person omniscient is the one of the least common point-of-views used by writers within short stories and novels. From my previous blog post, I discussed third-person limited point-of-view and mentioned there are actually two different third-person perspectives. Well, third-person omniscient is the second third-person point of view. It ' s also known as the "godlike" or "all-knowing" point-of-view, or what I call it, "the invisible narrator." This is because this persp

In a previous blog post, I've discussed and went over first-person point-of-view . The next point-of-view I'll be going over is third-person limited. Now, you might be wondering what's significant about the whole "limited" reference, but it's mostly for identification purposes. I'll get into the differences between third-person limited and omniscient later; but for now, keep in mind there's more than one type of third-person perspective. Third-person limited is the most commo

First-person point-of-view is known to be the hardest kind of point-of-view for most writers to write because it requires them to literally "get inside of a character's head" or for them to become the character themselves. This requires skillful writing and being almost submerged within a single character, and just one reason why I rarely write in the first-person point-of-view. Writers also have to thoroughly know the focal or viewpoint character well, such as their though

External conflict is the impact of outside forces that come against characters in a story. There are a number of different types of conflict, obstacles, and challenges characters could face during the plotline, but specifically there are six forces that characters are more than likely to deal with in some way or another. These include natural disasters or storms , supernatural or evil spirits , governments or institutions , people or villains, animals or creatures, and socia

In previous blog posts, I've discussed the four operations in characters, and the generic and complex emotions characters feel when...