Everyone loves a good cliffhanger, right? Or do they? In my experience it depends on a few things, and while they can be effective tools to keep your audience hooked, there’s a time and place for them. Here are three considerations to make when deciding on a cliffhanger for your story, and how you canContinue reading “Storytelling: Cliffhangers”
Tag Archives: Storytelling
Update: Podcast Launch!
Hi, everyone! I have an exciting update today: Author Rescue now has a podcast! It launched today so it’s starting to appear on major podcasting platforms, and I’ve included details below for a few different ways to access it and other details. I’m so excited to start this journey, and I appreciate your support (andContinue reading “Update: Podcast Launch!”
Storytelling: Dialogue & Perspective
Writing dialogue is a huge part of writing in general. Whether you’re working on a novel or a screenplay or a web comic, it’s highly likely that your characters will need to interact amongst themselves, plus internal dialogue for the reader to follow along with your POV character. There are a lot of different approaches,Continue reading “Storytelling: Dialogue & Perspective”
Arcs vs. Tropes vs. Motifs
This post is now a podcast episode! I’ll embed the link as soon as it’s live! I’m sure you’ve heard the words “arc” and “trope” and “motif” thrown around, but… what do they mean? What’s the difference? Is there a difference? Yes there is, which is why I decided to make a post about it.Continue reading “Arcs vs. Tropes vs. Motifs”
Storytelling: Show vs. Tell
One of the most common pieces of writing advice that gets thrown around is “show, don’t tell” but there are countless variations of pushback against this (things like “show emotion, tell feeling”), and just as many authors who live by this rule steadfastly. So what does it mean? Why are the opinions so divided? Here’sContinue reading “Storytelling: Show vs. Tell”
Storytelling: Writing Downtime
Plotlines ebb and flow between action and downtime. No story can be packed full of action all the time or else it becomes monotonous and loses its effect, but how can we write about downtime or other slow parts of a narrative while still keeping readers engaged? Here’s what I’ve tested and found worked forContinue reading “Storytelling: Writing Downtime”
Worldbuilding: Religion & Belief
Religion and belief systems can be huge motivators in character design, so writing about them can help your characters seem more three-dimensional. It adds a new element to the driving why behind narrative progression and it’s also the perfect opportunity for worldbuilding (especially in fantasy). In this post I’ll be discussing how to create andContinue reading “Worldbuilding: Religion & Belief”
Worldbuilding: Races & Species
This post is now a podcast episode! You can learn more about the podcast in this post or find available episodes on the Podcast page in the navigation menu. Worldbuilding is one of my favorite aspects of storytelling, and I have a great example! I went to see Avatar: The Way of Water, and IContinue reading “Worldbuilding: Races & Species”
Storytelling: Suspense vs. Terror vs. Horror
The post is now a podcast episode! You can learn more about the podcast in this post or find available episodes on the Podcast page in the navigation menu. We are back with more storytelling distinctions! Today I’ll be talking about the difference between the story elements of suspense, terror, and horror (because yes, they’reContinue reading “Storytelling: Suspense vs. Terror vs. Horror”
Storytelling: Fantasy vs. Paranormal
This post is now a podcast episode! You can learn more about the podcast in this post. Another storytelling genre post! This time I’m covering how I tell apart the fantasy and paranormal genres, because there’s a lot of overlap between the two. I did some research to help me distinguish the differences, because theContinue reading “Storytelling: Fantasy vs. Paranormal”
Author Rescue 