All stories are constructed of smaller parts, known as scenes, in which the main character attempts to resolve a primary, central problem. This overarching problem is what set the story in motion, and the main character’s resolution of it essentially marks the tale’s end. In each scene, the main character must address a different aspectContinue reading “How to Construct a Scene in a Story”
Author Archives: Rob Bignell
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For convenience sake: How should it appear?
For heaven’s sake, why didn’t somebody teach how to spell and punctuate this expression to some writers? Probably because it’s one of those rules in flux. Most writers learned that any time a possessive is used, an apostrophe is needed. As the expression shows that sake belongs to convenience, it ought to be spelled/punctuated forContinue reading “For convenience sake: How should it appear?”
Ways to Break Story Structure in Your Novel – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Sept. 30, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Ways to Break Story Structure in Your NovelMost novels, short stories and screenplays today follow a traditional five-part story structure, involving an introduction-rising action-climax-falling action-denouement. While dominant, this isn’t the only form you have to follow as a writer. Indeed, some of the best stories and novels don’t. READ MORE How to Write Engaging,Continue reading “Ways to Break Story Structure in Your Novel – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Sept. 30, 2025”
Great Writing Quotes by Author Alicia Ostriker
Art destroys silence. The writer who is a mother should, I think, record everything she can: make notes, keep journals, take photographs, use a tape recorder, and remind herself that there is a subject so incalculably vast significance to humanity, about which virtually nothing is known because writers have not been mothers. I try notContinue reading “Great Writing Quotes by Author Alicia Ostriker”
Don’t Overwhelm Reader With Too Many Subplots – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Sept. 23, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Don’t Overwhelm Reader With Too Many SubplotsSometimes writers get too creative for their own good. Such is the case when they think about all the stories their characters – major and minor – could experience. While the writer’s understanding of the world he’s creating is laudable, for the reader all of those storylinesContinue reading “Don’t Overwhelm Reader With Too Many Subplots – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Sept. 23, 2025”
Great Writing Quotes by Author Blaise Pascal
The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first. I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter. Everything that is written merely to please the author is worthless. There are some who speak well and write badly. For the placeContinue reading “Great Writing Quotes by Author Blaise Pascal”
Use Subplot to Give Story More Depth – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Sept. 16, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Use Subplot to Give Story More DepthOne way to give your story depth is to include a subplot, which is a secondary plot line. This sometimes is referred to as the B story, a term from screenwriting. READ MORE Writing Advice: Mastering Point of ViewFor beginning writers, point of view often is theContinue reading “Use Subplot to Give Story More Depth – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Sept. 16, 2025”
Great Writing Quotes by Author Maxine Kumin
To write about the monstrous sense of alienation the poet feels in this culture of polarized hatreds is a way of staying sane. With the poem, I reach out to an audience equally at odds with official policy, and I celebrate our mutual humanness in an inhuman world. I would not recommend poetry as aContinue reading “Great Writing Quotes by Author Maxine Kumin”
When and How Do I Get My Royalties?
After countless hours of writing and revising, wringing your hands over the cover design, and struggling with formatting glitches, you’ve finally done – you’ve self-published your book! You’re euphoric, but one nagging question remains: When and how do I get my royalties? Technically, most self-published authors don’t receive royalties. Royalties are a publisher’s payment made toContinue reading “When and How Do I Get My Royalties?”