Category: novel planning
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Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 3
A lot of writers feel pressure to “fully visualize” the setting for the reader. So they pile detail upon detail onto the page.
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Writing Strong Description in Fiction, Part 1
When we talk about description in fiction, most writers immediately picture long paragraphs about sunsets, castles, or what color somebody’s curtains are. And honestly? That’s part of why description gets such a bad press sometimes.
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What Is Backstory and Why It Matters
Backstory isn’t just a character’s childhood or their tragic past. It’s everything that happened before your story begins.
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Conflict: The Heartbeat of Story
At the heart of every compelling narrative is a character who wants something deeply.
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Which cover should I use?
I am finishing up the first draft of my novel, Normous, which is the latest in my Consortium sci-fi saga. Which cover should I use?
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Writing Life Update: January 2026
I’m almost done with my current draft of Normous, the next episode of my Consortium series.
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Writing Advice from Roshani Chokshi
At first, I didn’t realize the newly released fantasy novel, The Swan’s Daughter, had been written by someone I’ve read before: Roshani Chokshi.
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Voices Without Faces: A Dialogue-Only Writing Experiment
I just finished Brandon Sanderson‘s Tailored Realities. It was not what I thought it would be. Yes, I knew it was a collection of short stories, but with surprise me is the inspiration I found through his writing craft observations. My review of Tailored Realities by Brandon Sanderson These nuggets of writing wisdom are found…
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A Small Course Correction
I’ve been doing some thinking about this blog lately, and I’ve come to a realization that probably won’t surprise longtime readers: this space has been trying to be too many things at once.
Andrew M. Friday 