Falling Action: Definition and Why Falling Action Doesn’t Exist In Most Stories

Falling Action: Definition and Why Falling Action Doesn’t Exist In Most Stories

The falling action is a literary term you hear thrown around in middle school writing classes and on creative writing blogs, but what is it? And will it actually help you understand, and maybe write, a good story?

In this post, I’m going to define falling action, talking briefly about its origin as a literary term and its place in dramatic structure, and then talk about whether you should incorporate it into your story structuring process.

Spoiler alert: you shouldn’t.

How I Ghostwrite Other Authors’ Books

How I Ghostwrite Other Authors’ Books

Now, when I go to bookstores I see them automatically, the little with’s and and’s next to celebrity authors’ names. However, when I first found out a friend had ghostwritten a bestselling book by a major author, I didn’t know what the word “ghostwrite” meant, not to mention the fact that nearly every celebrity author who has ever “written” a book has used a ghostwriter.

Write About Your City: Writing Prompt

Today's writing prompt challenges you to write about your city, no matter how big or small. Use this prompt to explore the particular flavor of a real city or a fictional city if you prefer. Years ago I had the opportunity to inteview poet Paul Willis when he was the...
Can Constrained Writing Make You a Better Writer?

Can Constrained Writing Make You a Better Writer?

Before we talk about the concept of constrained writing and tell you how it works, let me ask you this: Have you ever opened a new blank document to write, stared at it for far too long, and then realized you have no ideas, that your mind is as blank as the page you’re trying to write on? What if you could double or triple the number of ideas you have, not by doing something extra but by taking something away?

That’s what constrained writing is about: taking away options so that you can actually be more creative.