Literary Crisis: Why a Dilemma Will Make Your GOOD Story GREAT

Literary Crisis: Why a Dilemma Will Make Your GOOD Story GREAT

So you wrote a story or a novel or a book. You’re proud. You’re excited. Visions of publishing dance in your head. Then you go back and read your story or novel or book, and you think, “Well, this is good and I feel proud of it. But it doesn’t match up to the stories/novels/books I know and love.”

You wrote a GOOD story, but not a GREAT one. Worse, you don’t know why. It might be that you’re missing a crisis.

3 Elements of Plot: Dilemma

Lesson 1: Inciting Incident In the first lesson, we talk about the three most important plot elements of best-selling stories, starting with the inciting incident. Continue to the lesson Lesson 2: Dilemma In our second lesson, we explore the dilemma, heart of your...
Dilemma: 4 Powerful Steps to Make Your Characters Choose

Dilemma: 4 Powerful Steps to Make Your Characters Choose

What if there was one thing you could change about your writing that could almost instantly make it better?

There is! There is a storytelling element that I’ve seen as an entrant and judge of multiple fiction contests that makes stories work and win, standing out above the rest.

And that single, difference-making element is a Powerful Choice.

Plot and Structure: How to Use Structure and Subplot to Add Suspense

Plot and Structure: How to Use Structure and Subplot to Add Suspense

You can’t write a great story if you don’t master plot and structure. But what is the best structure for a novel? How do you plot a novel?

Figuring out your plot and structure is essential for your story’s success. Even if you have an exciting idea for a story, great characters, and a memorable setting, you need to put your protagonist through events that have high and escalating stakes.

Without a sound plot and structure, you won’t thrill your readers. Today, we’ll look at story structure and learn how you can build an effective plan for a story packed with suspense, with all the right twists in all the right places.