Write Your Novel
Step By StepFollow StoryWeaver's path of 200 interactive Story Cards from concept to completion of your novel or screenplay.
Every step of the way you'll know what you need to do and get examples of how to do it, continually evovling, expanding and improving your story.
You'll develop your story's world, who's in it, what happens to them, and what it all means.
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Author Archives: Melanie Anne Phillips
Characters and Gender
Perhaps the most fundamental error made by authors, whether novice or experienced, is that all their characters, male and female, tend to reflect the gender of the author. This is hardly surprising, since recent research indicates that men and women use … Continue reading
Posted in Narrative Psychology
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Why Characters Misunderstand Each Other
This article was originally written as part of an early draft of our book on the Dramatica theory of narrative which but was never included. It seeks to describe how characters come to misunderstand each other, and how this can lead to conflict. … Continue reading
Posted in Narrative Psychology
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4 Writing Tips for Novelists
1. Novels Aren’t Stories A novel can be extremely free form. Some are simply narratives about a fictional experience. Others are a collection of several stories that may or may not be intertwined. Jerzy N. Kosinski (the author of “Being … Continue reading
Posted in Story Development
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Happy New Year, Writers!
I’ve been teaching creative writing now for more that twenty-five years, and here are my best tips for starting your new writing year: First, schedule your writing time like you would a dentist’s appointment. Why? Because as Dorothy Parker once … Continue reading
Posted in Creative Writing
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10 Screenwriting Tips
Screenplays are blueprints for movies. As such, they are not art, but instructions for creating art. Therefore, there are two things every great screenplay must have: A good story, and a clear and understandable description of how it should be … Continue reading
Posted in Screenwriting
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Is Story Structure A Myth?
A whole flock of Story Gurus (myself included) will tell you that stories have structure. Therefore, if you learn that structure you’ll improve your stories. Ostensibly, this will lead to fame, riches, a keen sense of accomplishment, and the unparalleled … Continue reading
Posted in Story Structure
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Do You Write Like An Actor Or A Director?
There are two ways to approach the craft of writing. The first is to step into the role of each character and write it very personally, as if you were an actor portraying a part. The second is to consider … Continue reading
Posted in Creative Writing, Story Development
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Is Your Story Coming Apart at the Themes?
Even when a story has memorable characters, a riveting plot and a fully developed genre, it may still be coming apart at the themes. In this article, we’ll find out how to recognize this problem, and what to do about … Continue reading
Posted in Story Development, Theme
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What Is Truth? (The Character’s Dilemma)
Characters reflect real people in a purified or idealized state. And so, we can see in them qualities and traits that are hard to see within ourselves. One of the most difficult challenges we face every day are exemplified by … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Narrative Psychology, Story Psychology
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Jurassic Park – Building A Better Dinosaur
One way to improve your writing is to look at a good story and learn from it. Another way it to see what’s wrong with a bad story and think about how to fix it. But you seldom see writers … Continue reading
Posted in Definitions
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