6 Tips for Mapping a Fictional World Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 3 “World Building” – Section 2 “Maps” (Previous Tutorial)             (Next Tutorial)  “I wisely started with a map, and made the story fit (generally with meticulous care for distances). The other way about lands one in confusions and impossibilities, and in any case it is weary work to compose a map from a story.” - J.R.R. Tolkien If you've ever read or written a story that seemed unintentionally ethereal—where the descriptions did not paint a vivid picture of the setting but instead a more vague dreamscape that t

10 Tips for Creating a Protagonist Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 5 “Characters” – Section 2 “Protagonists” (Previous Tutorial)             (Next Tutorial)  “Plot is people. Human emotions and desires founded on the realities of life, working at cross purposes, getting hotter and fiercer as they strike against each other until finally there’s an explosion—that’s Plot.” —Leigh Brackett Apart from Primary and Secondary Protagonists, there are many other different protagonist characters-types that can drive a story—ranging from heroes, to villains, to antiheroes

9 Tips for Creating Your Antagonist Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0Chapter 5 “Characters” – Section 3 “Antagonists” (Previous Tutorial)             (Next Tutorial)                                                             “You don't really understand an antagonist until you understand why he's a protagonist in his own version of the world.” -John Rogers Whether the obstacle that stands in the way of your protagonist is an evil person, a person of just another philosophical belief, a person with a contradicting goal, a force of nature, a force of the supernatural, a monster, an emotion, an exper

6 Tips for Creating Supporting Characters Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 5 “Characters” – Section 4 “Supporting Types” (Previous Tutorial)             (Next Tutorial)  “Although my heart may be weak, it's not alone. It's grown with each new experience. And it's found a home with all the friends I've made. I've become a part of their heart, just as they've become a part of mine.” - -Sora (protagonist of Kingdom Hearts) Great stories are hardly ever about only a hero or a villain who fight obsessively to the bitter end. In a great story, there is an entire world of characters who not only l

7 Tips for Writing Fantasy Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0   Chapter 2 “Genres” – Section 3 “Fantasy” (Previous Tutorial)              (Next Tutorial) “Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.” -Lloyd Alexander My editor tells me that I have a magical super-power, one that I feel I must now share with you. I have the magical ability to look at a shelf of books and pick out the absolute worst fantasy novel there. As a result of my super-power, I used to think I hated fantasy because it was filled with so many of the most tired and overused tropes in existence that I

10 Tips for Description in Your Novel Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0   Chapter 7 “Editing” – Section 8 “Descriptions” "Setting shouldn't just consist of describing nature or a landscape, or of saying where something takes place. It is the world of specific people. It's not enough for it to feel vivid or credible; it should feel necessary." -Kaui Hart Hemmings Last time, I said that the next tutorial I worked on would be on the topic of editing, and I had every intention of doing that. So I worked this entire time on that tutorial (minus time spent writing and traveling, of course) and made a slightly disheart

7 Tips for Introducing Your Characters Anybody Can Write a Novel   Chapter 5 “Choosing and Designing Characters” – Section 3 “Introductions” With Links to Supplementary Material When a reader first picks up a book, they create an instant connection with the author of the story—formed through a required level of trust just so that the two of you can immerse yourselves in the world you have created. The writer and the reader are, at that point, friends or pleasant acquaintances; and at that moment of relationship and immersion into the realm of story, the characters become just as real as the reader/write

8 Tips for Writing Dialogue for your Characters Anybody Can Write a Novel   Chapter 5 “Choosing and Designing Characters” – Section 4 “Dialogue” With Links to Supplementary Material Dialogue is a tricky topic, and for two key reasons. The first is that creating realistic dialogue is a difficult skill to master—even in day-to-day life—without speech coming out plastic, pointless, or otherwise unconvincing. The second problem is that the proper dialogue for your story is deeply rooted within the other elements—the characters, the setting, the genre, etc... Because of this, writing dialogue tha

Anybody Can Write A Novel - Outline A Step-by-step Guide for Anyone to Learn How to Write a Novel This is an Outline of all my current articles, and a look at what is to come. I will try to update it, at least once every two weeks. Also note that just because something is absent from the Outline does not mean I don't plan to write it. This is a compilation of only chapters that have already been written. (You'll notice that I have neglected some points and chapters within this Outline. This this is simply a result of realizing that there is so much to learn, when it comes to writing. Don't worry, I'll be sure to come back and fill in the g

5 Tips for Establishing Character Voices Anybody Can Write a Novel   Chapter 7 “From Story to Art” – Section 9 “Speech and Voice” With Links to Supplementary Material After you finish your first draft in all of its rough, unpolished, corny, sappy, unorganized glory, you will likely note something rather disturbing about your characters. They all sound the same. And, upon further analysis, you may even discover that they all sound like you. Fear not! This is to be expected, and but another factor to be adjusted and improved in the many drafts to come. Tip 1: Annotate how each character's speech pattern differ

Introduction to the New Tutorial Anybody Can Write a Novel Version 2.0 Chapter 1 “Beginning to Write” – Section 1 “Introduction” (Next Tutorial) “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut.”―Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft Within the many styles of martial arts, there are powerful moves unique to each—whether it be footwork, punching, blocking, kicking, or the countless weapon styles among them. Yet none is objectively perfect, nor does any reach

6 Reading Tips for Improving Your Writing Anybody Can Write a Novel Version 2.0 Chapter 1 “Beginning to Write” – Section 2 “Constructive Reading” (Previous Tutorial)              (Next Tutorial) “That's when I started being a writer. I got the Tarzan books and studied how Edgar Rice Burroughs kept the pace going, because he was really good at that. And I studied Stephen King. Although Burroughs wasn't that great on character, he was great on pace and adventure, and King is very good on character as well as pace. I read the same book over three times to see how it was put together. That's how I trained

8 Tips for Composing Each Chapter of Your Novel Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0   Chapter 7 “Editing” – Section 1 “The Chapter”  “Many first-time novelists end up rewriting their first two or three chapters, trying to get them 'just right.' But the point of the first draft is not to get it right; it's to get it written - so that you'll have something to work with.” -Matt Hughes Recently, we've been working on all of the plot-points contained within a story and what function they serve to the overall plot. And if you've been following along with the “Write-A-Novel” exercises, and writte

7 Tips For Writing Action Scenes Anybody Can Write a Novel   Chapter 7 “From Story to Art” – Section 7 “Action Scenes” With Links to Supplementary Material Action scenes in a novel are a difficult tool to master, but well worth the time and effort to create dramatic an memorable scenes that will engage and entertain your readers. To pull them off effectively, you must be able to keep a quick yet varied pace, keep a tight focus, reflect your story, and make it all quick and crisp. Today, I'm going to give you a starting-point for honing your skills in this method of storytelling. Tip 1: Create a visible plane

5 Steps for Creating a Plot Premise Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 4 “Creating a Plot” – Section 2 “Plot Premise” (Previous Tutorial)             (Next Tutorial)  "Every human being has hundreds of separate people living under his skin. The talent of a writer is his ability to give them their separate names, identities, personalities and have them relate to other characters living with him." -Mel Brooks Ask a beginning writer what their story is about, and you'll likely be rewarded with a long and tedious monologue about their world, characters, and story ideas—told in such a way that reveals

PLEASE NOTE THAT WHILE THIS PAGE WILL REMAIN ACTIVE FOR PURPOSES OF EDUCATION AND RECORDS, IT IS OUTDATED. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE NEWEST VERSION. 7 Steps to Creating a Great Protagonist Anybody Can Write a Novel   Chapter 3 “Characters” – Section 3 “The Protagonist” With Links to Supplementary Material So I've talked about a couple types of protagonists, and how to create them: Heroes and Antiheroes. As well as what types of Character to Use or to Avoid. But not every Protagonist will be a hero or antihero. Today, I'm going to discuss what universal attributes make a great protagonist, that will drive your

9 Character Types to Use in Your Novel Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 5 “Designing Characters” – Section 1 “Characters Types” (Previous Tutorial)             (Next Tutorial)                                                  "You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality” -Walt Disney Now that we've begun the process of giving depth, goals, and personality to our characters, we need to begin our look at what part they play in your central plot. Below, I've compiled a list of different character types to consider when p

7 Tips for Writing Your Story's Beginning Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 6 “Plot Points” – Section 1 “The Beginning” (Previous Tutorial)             (Next Tutorial) "Don't you know that the beginning is the most important part of every work [...] For at that stage it's most plastic, and each thing assimilates itself to the model whose stamp anyone wishes to give to it." -Plato When you speak to many writers, editors, and publishers about the topic of prologues, they will generally give you the same piece of advice—skip it. The reason is that even in the rare cases where a prologue is actually

6 Tips for Creating Your Story's Timeline Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 3 “World Building” – Section 1 “History” (Previous Tutorial)             (Next Tutorial) “Man is explicable by nothing less than all his history. Without hurry, without rest, the human spirit goes forth from the beginning to embody every faculty, every thought, every emotion, which belongs to it in appropriate events.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essay I, History From the events which take place in your novel, to the culture of the people groups present, to the attitudes present in the characters, to the nature of the cosmo

21 Tips for Writing Humor Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0  Chapter 2 “Genres” – Section 9 “Humor” (Previous Tutorial)             (Next Tutorial) “The secret to humor is surprise.” -Aristotle There are many theories as to the nature, science, and reason for humor. It's an element of human behavior that seems objective in the skill that is required to execute it successfully, and yet just as subjective for how unpredictably it can hit every individual audience member. Today, I'm going to talk about the various forms that humor takes, and give you some tips for making your humorous story a success. T

PLEASE NOTE THAT WHILE THIS PAGE WILL REMAIN ACTIVE FOR PURPOSES OF EDUCATION AND RECORDS, IT IS OUTDATED. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE NEWEST VERSION. 10 Tips for Writing Fantasy Anybody Can Write a Novel   Chapter 1 “Genres” – Section 2 “Fantasy” With Links to Supplementary Material As you might have noticed from the Outline, my section on Story Genres is rather bare. And so during the following few weeks, I will be remedying that—starting with fantasy. I have written quite a bit of fantasy—especially mixed within other genres. But more than that, I have read both excellent and profoundly horrible

27 YouTube Channels to Help Improve Your Writing Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0   Chapter 11 “Resources” – Section 1 “Youtube Channels” One of the things that inspired me to begin writing these writing tutorials was that, about a year and a half ago, I came to a frustrating point in my writing where I knew enough about the craft to no longer be a novice but not enough to make my novel publishable. In particular, I wanted to find a Youtube channel that I could listen to while I was cooking or working, so that my skills as a writer could increase. Since then I have found (through research, friends, and even you

7 Tips for Creating an Antihero Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 5 “Characters” – Section 2.2 “Antiheroes (Previous Tutorial)             (Next Tutorial) "I'm drawn to the classic antihero, the guy who's probably made a bunch of mistakes and really has the capacity to go either way. That's the most interesting type of character for me to watch, to see what decisions they'll make. There's a lot of gray area there for a writer to explore." -Kurt Sutter One of the most trending and most debated archetypes in modern storytelling is the antihero. As with most fictional conventions, people have different opinions

11 Tips for Romance in Your Novel Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0   Chapter 2 “Genres” – Section 2 “Romance” (Previous Tutorial)              (Next Tutorial) “I always think the most romantic books or films are the ones where the romance doesn't happen, because it makes your heart ache so much watching it.” -Natalie Portman Within the genre of romance, as well as every other genre of fiction, one finds love stories. Love is enough of a universal human experience, that it can happen within the context of any type of story. It draws reader attention, unlike any other topic. However, the world of lite