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.
Try StoryWeaver Risk Free for 90 Days! Click here for details... Browse Categories
- Announcements
- Author & Audience
- Characters
- Creative Writing
- Dramatica
- Featured Articles
- Featured Videos
- Genre
- How Dramatica Works
- Just for fun…
- Melanie's Corner
- Narrative Science
- Novel Writing
- Objective and Subjective Characters
- Plot
- Practical Tips
- Screenwriting
- Story Development
- Story Physics
- Story Points
- Story Psychology
- Story Structure
- Storytelling
- StoryWeaver Software
- The Master Storyteller
- The Story Mind
- The Writing Life
- Theme
- Throughline Software
- Under Development
- Video
- Weekend Writing Workshop
- Welcome
- Writing Tip of the Day
- Zen of Story Structure
- zzzzzzzz….. (snore)
Category Archives: Practical Tips
Drop Exposition through Arguments
Here’s a short one… A person talking is often boring. People arguing are often compelling. If you have to drop exposition, try to do it in the back and forth barbs of an argument. Let the characters use the information … Continue reading
Posted in Novel Writing, Quick Tips, Screenwriting, Storytelling, Storytelling Tips, Writing Tip of the Day
Comments Off on Drop Exposition through Arguments
Using Index Cards for Your Story
Excerpted from: 50 Sure-Fire Storytelling Tricks! By Melanie Anne Phillips Available in Paperback and for Kindle Index cards (3×5 or 5×7 in size) are often used by screenwriters to plan out the sequence of events in their stories. Usually, a script … Continue reading
Posted in Creative Writing, Novel Writing, Practical Tips, Screenwriting, Writing Tip of the Day
Comments Off on Using Index Cards for Your Story
Writing Tip: Keep a Creative Log
One of the biggest differences between a pedestrian novel and a riveting one are the clever little quips, concepts, snippets of dialog, and fresh metaphors. But coming up with this material on the fly is a difficult chore, and sometimes … Continue reading
Posted in Creative Writing, Novel Writing, Practical Tips, Writing Tip of the Day
Comments Off on Writing Tip: Keep a Creative Log
Give each character a personal goal
Personal Goals are the motivating reasons your characters care about and/or participate in the effort to achieve or prevent the overall goal. In other words, they see the main story goal as a means to an end, not as an … Continue reading
Posted in Character Motivations, Novel Writing, Quick Tips, Screenwriting, Storytelling Tips, Storyweaving Tips, Writing Tip of the Day
Comments Off on Give each character a personal goal
How to Reveal Your Goal
While the structural nature of a story’s goal is crucial to developing a plot that makes sense, the storytelling manner in which the goal is revealed can determine whether a plot seems clever or pedestrian. In this tip, we’ll explore … Continue reading
Posted in Novel Writing, Plot, Practical Tips, Writing Tip of the Day
Comments Off on How to Reveal Your Goal
Storytelling Trick 2 – Red Herrings (Changing Importance)
Red herrings are designed to make something appear more or less important than it really is. Several good examples of this technique can be found in the motion picture The Fugitive. In one scene a police car flashes its lights and … Continue reading
Posted in Author & Audience, Creative Writing, Novel Writing, Practical Tips, Screenwriting, Storytelling
Comments Off on Storytelling Trick 2 – Red Herrings (Changing Importance)
Writing from a Character’s Point of View
Perhaps the best way to instill real feelings in a character is to stand in his or her shoes and write from the character’s point of view. Unfortunately, this method also holds the greatest danger of undermining the meaning of … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Creative Writing, Practical Tips
Comments Off on Writing from a Character’s Point of View
Love Interests and the Dramatic Triangle
A lot of books about writing describe the importance of a “Love Interest.” Other books see a Love Interest as unnecessary and cliché. What does Dramatica Say? As with most dramatic concepts, Dramatica pulls away the storytelling to take a … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Plot, Practical Tips, Story Development
Comments Off on Love Interests and the Dramatic Triangle
Writing Characters of the Opposite Sex
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 finally proves that men and … Continue reading
Posted in Practical Tips, Story Psychology
Comments Off on Writing Characters of the Opposite Sex
Character Development Tricks!
As trite as it might seem, ask yourself “What would a story be without characters?” The answer can help you get a grip on exactly what characters really do in a story, and therefore how to build them effectively. Although … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Creative Writing, Practical Tips, Story Development
Comments Off on Character Development Tricks!
StoryWeaver
