Writing Lessons Everywhere
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The latest posts from Writing Lessons Everywhere, pulled from Substack automatically.
How to Use a “Story-Within-a-Story” (A Lesson from Magpie Murders)The benefits and limits of nesting a secondary tale within your main story
The Rules Are What Make It Fun (Writing Lesson from Practical Magic 2)Unclear character capabilities can leave your audience high and dry
On Loss and WritingA life (and death) lesson for writers
How to Write Frenemies (A Writing Lesson from Coyote vs. Acme)The two-layer recipe for a delicious frenemy dynamic
The Fast and the Furious and The Devil Wears Prada Are Secretly the Same MovieHow two seemingly different films reveal the blueprint for writing an outsider who gains acceptance
"This Starts Too Slow": Why the Obvious Fix Makes It WorseDon’t borrow momentum from later in your story to fix a slow opening. The Rivals of Amziah King shows how to get it right.
TikTok's #1 Summer Thriller Pick Makes Everyone a Suspect (A Writing Lesson from The Secrets We Hide)How to steal a foundational writing skill from Karin Slaughter's The Secrets We Hide
The Best Character Foils Aren't Actually Opposites (A Writing Lesson from "Furious")The Hulu show's premiere shows how great foils spring from overlap, not opposites
6 Ways to Head-Hop Artfully (Writing Lessons from José Saramago's "Blindness")A Nobel-winning author displays how to skillfully switch POV mid-scene
"Margo's Got Money Troubles" Has Inciting Incident TroublesHow the Apple TV+ show can help writers avoid investing in a decoy story-starter
The Gimmick Is Not the PointA lesson from the silent revenge thriller Motor City: how to test whether your structural gimmick is serving your story or steering it
What Gets You Home (A Writing Lesson from The Odyssey)The Odyssey's climax contradicts its hero's whole journey. Here's why it still works.
Refusing the WinkHow Maddie's Secret undercuts decades-old comedy tropes to unlock true emotion (and how you can, too!)
A Study in Chapter Endings with John SteinbeckHow to steal Steinbeck's techniques for compulsively readable stories
Writing Exceptional (or Super) CharactersWhat Supergirl can teach writers about setting bounds for characters with notable powers, and a FREE TOOL to apply it to our own WIPs
The Rerun Problem (A Writing Lesson from Toy Story 5)A free tool to help writers avoid treading familiar ground when putting together a series
Sell the Want, Land the Need (A Writing Lesson from Toy Story 4)How Toy Story 4 provides a blueprint for a common piece of writing advice — And a free tool to apply it to your WIP
The WLE "Under the Hood" ToolkitA collection of writing worksheets and exercises to help build, develop and revise your WIP
Toy Story 3 Shows How to Fix a Flat ClimaxA counterintuitive lesson about antagonists, and a helpful tool for putting that lesson to work in our own drafts
What Toy Story 2 Gets Right About Backstory (And How to Steal It)How to make sure backstory is earning its place in your WIP