Where do story idea’s come from? Can you cultivate ideas or do you have to wait for inspiration? We talk about travel, dreams, visions and how the writing process truly is one of discovery. Do you need an idea in order to write? And is creativity a limited well or a muscle you can whip into shape? What if someone else steals your ideas? You will be surprised where some of our inspiration comes from!
What is agency? And how do you keep your protagonist active? Do coincidences and natural disasters take away character agency? What is they try/fail cycle and what does Alida have against it? What is the difference between a reaction and a response? When should you plan your characters agency? And how do you handle reaction scenes? In the end just ask yourself: “did my character lose a hand?”. If he did, then you have a pretty good chance – he’s active!
Are endings hard? What makes a good ending, and how do you make it surprising and inevitable? How do you resolve a book differently if it’s a short story, versus a novel, versus a novel in a series? And how can you create that satisfying ending for both you and the reader?
What exactly is a subplot? When do you need them? Who should they revolve around? And can they really alleviate the soggy middle syndrome? And please don’t forget your characters have lives too! Don’t make them live entirely in the main plot line.
Want to know what it takes to write a good opening? How do you hook your reader and get them invested in your story? How do you create character empathy and what are the action steps that you need to take in order to write a great opening?