-
Which is Best: Character- or Plot-driven Stories? – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 23, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Which is Best: Character- or Plot-driven Stories?Generally, stories can be classified as either character- or plot-driven. One is not necessarily better than the other, though readers usually respond more positively to the former. READ MORE Self-Publishing Tip: Everything You Need to Know to Self-Publish Your PaperbackYou’ve written a book and want to publish…
-
Avoid Writing Gimmick Stories – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 16, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Avoid Writing Gimmick StoriesSometimes what seems at the outset like a great story idea really isn’t. Such is the case with the gimmick story. This is a story in which character development takes a back seat to a big reveal or a shocking twist at the tale’s end. READ MORE Self-Publishing Advice: How…
-
Avoid Writing Bifurcated Story – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 9, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Avoid Writing Bifurcated StoryDoes your story belong in therapy? Perhaps one portion of it appears to be in conflict with another portion, maybe over tone or theme. READ MORE Self-Publishing Advice: How to Design Your Paperback CoverMost potential readers of your paperback will see its front cover before anything written about it. It…
-
Utilize Literary Dream Device with Caution – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 2, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Utilize Literary Dream Device with CautionThe purpose of our nightly dreams remains unclear, for they appear to be void of any consistent meaning. In literature, however, dreams are quite the opposite. Chock full of symbolism, they can help define the character and advance the plot by foreshadowing events. This device in fiction is…
-
Sharpen Manuscript by Using Stronger Verbs
Your manuscript boasts interesting characters, an action-packed plot, and descriptions of fascinating places, and yet the story still feels a bit flat and vanilla. The problem likely is your verb selection. Verbs are the words in your sentences that that show an action (such as “ran”), occurrence (“develop”), or state of being (“exists”). Every sentence…
-
Don’t Let a Rhinoceros in the Room Smash Your Plot – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Nov. 25, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Don’t Let a Rhinoceros in the Room Smash Your PlotWhen describing the setting in your story, be careful not to place a “rhinoceros in the room.” This term is some item or attribute that is obvious to everyone except the people closest to it. READ MORE Everything You Must Know to Self-Publish…
-
Great Writing Quotes by Author Emily Rooks
I’ve always craved that dizzying spell you find yourself under when reading a good story. I wanted to feel the power of creating such stories too. The act of writing is powerful, an opportunity for self-reflection, personal growth, and connection. It’s like good sex. The first story I read entirely on my own, outside of…
-
Common Plot Pitfalls to Avoid – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Nov. 18, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Common Plot Pitfalls to AvoidNew writers, usually due to a lack of writing experience or because they haven’t had their writing critiqued, often will make some journeyman mistakes when plotting their story. If you’re just writing for yourself, there’s nothing wrong with any of these errors; the pleasure of writing alone overrides…
-
Great Writing Quotes by Author Marianne Moore
One writes because one has a burning desire to objectify what it is indispensable to one’s happiness to express. A man is a writer if all his words are strung in definite sentence sounds. …baseball is like writing. You can never tell with either how it will go. Writing is an undertaking for the modest.…
-
Great Writing Quotes by Poet Billy Marshall Stoneking
What monster sleeps in the deep of your story? You need a monster. Without a monster there is no story. Originality has nothing to do with producing something “new” – it is about seeking the source, the primordial ground from which you draw and have always drawn your being. It comes about when one works…
