The Cost of Words: Write
There has been a lot of discussion on the Sudowrite Slack about the cost of progress in words, and it's unfortunately not unusual to see a post from a frustrated new user that'...
The First Plot Point: The Moment of No Return
Every great story has a moment where the protagonist crosses a threshold—where they step into the unknown and can’...
4 First Chapter Fails: How To Keep Readers Hooked (Without Screwing It Up)
First chapters are brutal. They have to do everything—hook the reader, establish the protagonist, set up the world, hint...
Plotting Your Novel: Three-Act, Four-Act, and Every Other Story Structure That Works (and Why You Need One)
(In Which We Discover That Story Structure Is Your Friend, Not Your Dictator) There’s a moment in every writer’...
How to Start Your Story: The Ordinary World, the Hook, and the Art of Making Readers Care
You’ve got about three seconds—maybe a sentence or two—to convince a reader not to toss your book...
The Inciting Incident: How to Create an Unforgettable Call to Adventure
A character’s life is rolling along—maybe not perfectly, maybe not happily, but predictably—until suddenly, everything changes. The...