by Ali | May 1, 2025 | Fiction
How to Write a Flashback: Five Tips and Four Examples One challenge that you’re likely to face when writing a novel is how to fill the reader in about important events in your main character’s past. There are various techniques you can use for this—one of which is a...
by Ali | Apr 4, 2025 | Motivation
Annual Writing Goal Progress in Q1, 2025 (What’s Working and What’s Not?) We’re into April already! It’s been a pretty good first quarter (Q1) for me, though one with a few challenges. I’ve been broadly happy with the writing progress I’ve made, and I wanted to share...
by Ali | Mar 27, 2025 | Fiction
What is Plot … and is it the Same Thing as Story or Narrative? This post was first published in August 2019 and last updated in March 2025. What exactly is plot? Is it just what we call “story” or “narrative” … or is it...
by Ali | Mar 21, 2025 | Editing
How Does Editing Best Fit Into the Writing Process? Four Key Options to Consider When do you stop drafting and start editing? There are lots of different ways you might approach rewriting and editing your novel … and I’m not going to tell you that there’s one...
by Ali | Mar 14, 2025 | Fiction
Is First Person Point of View Right for Your Story? Five Approaches (+ Examples) First person point of view is hugely popular in certain genres: YA and Romance, in particular. It’s also a perfectly fine choice for literary fiction—think David Copperfield (narrated by...
