In this first post in the “Strong Beginnings” series, we’ll explore the promises made in a compelling first act that engross your reader so completely they don’t stop reading until they get all the way to the satisfying conclusion of your story.

Balancing descriptive details with a compelling narrative can be tricky. Use this Conflict Sandwich recipe to help you make a pièce de résistance.

There is a fine balance between giving enough descriptive details to allow the reader to be visually grounded in a scene and the dreaded info-dump—piles of description that are completely unrelated to plot or action. In this post, I talk about the most engaging ways to include description in your writing and suck your readers into your world with the force of a hurricane that they are begging not to release them.

Most of us avoid conflict at all costs, but conflict in all its forms is the beating heart of great fiction. In this post, I give you simple tips on how to infuse more conflict into your writing.

Deep POV is immersing ourselves so deeply into the character’s head that we forget we’re reading about someone else. But how do you do that?