Do you want to deliver the perfect plot twist? Most writers do. The problem is, readers are smart and getting smarter with every book they read. They tend to sniff the plot twist right out, even if you hid it well. That’s why I’m introducing this game changer called a red herring. Red herring in literature is the art of creating a false trail in a story so your readers…
Do you know the feeling when you can’t turn the pages fast enough? You’re barely registering any of the words written on the page because you want to keep reading. Then the bomb drops, and everything changes 180 degrees. That’s the art of a plot twist. A plot twist is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a point where the whole plot twists and turns around. From that moment, the…
There comes a time in every writer’s life when they’ll write a fictional world, and it might be the hardest thing they’ll ever have to do in their career. Don’t take me the wrong way; there’s nothing easy about writing, but some things are just more difficult. You want to write a good story. I want you to write a good story so I might someday get the pleasure of…
Fantasy stories don’t always take place in our world. Sometimes it simply isn’t possible. Some fantasy stories are so wild and full of imagination that our dull and painfully ordinary world can’t hold them. It certainly can’t hold dragons or spells. That’s where fantasy worldbuilding comes in. Fantasy worldbuilding is the process of creating a fictional setting for your story. It’s a clever solution to the hindrance of creativity that…
You don’t realize how complex a city is until you have to create a fictional city from scratch. At least I didn’t. To be honest, I never thought of all the things that made a city a city. Throughout the years, I’ve learned that a city isn’t just tall buildings, coffee shops, and busy people. Both from living in a city and writing multiple ones myself, I concluded that a…
One of my favourite aspects of writing is the creative freedom to create a completely fictional world. I love how some words on a paper can turn into a whole world you can envision as if you’re right there. That’s the magic of worldbuilding. When you’re worldbuilding geography, you can choose exactly how the world is going to look. You decide if the world has high mountains, rivers, or long…
Conflict is the foundation of every story. Usually, the protagonist has a goal, and then something prevents them from reaching it. That’s the conflict. The best and the worst stories have conflict. What determines if your conflict is good depends on the way you build it before the story begins. If you want to write a great story, you need to get your conflict right. Admittedly, writing a great conflict…
Since the beginning of time, humans have used technology. Today we know technology as smartphones, TVs, and refrigerators. New technology is invented all the time, and it has helped us advance as a species. Due to technology, we have advanced healthcare and entertainment. However, many experience technology as scary. It’s unfamiliar territory with endless possibilities. In today’s society, many people fear the development of AI (artificial intelligence). Many of them…
What if your biggest threat wasn’t a person or a group of people? What if it was something indifferent? Neither evil nor good, something that happened to oppose you. To stand in your way and prevent you from reaching your ultimate goal. That is the case in the man vs. nature conflict. Man vs nature is a feud old as time. Since the early days of humankind, people have had…
Humans are social creatures; we’ve lived in communities forever. Our survival depended on it, so it’s only natural that we crave social validation. However, today it might look like buying the trendiest jacket, following norms, or shaping ourselves to fit in. Sometimes, though, society doesn’t accept who you are. Sometimes the problem isn’t that you won’t fit in, it’s that you can’t. In literature, that’s portrayed as man vs. society.…
