Tweet Author with Penchants Greetings, fellow writerly one! I’m Courtney Cantrell. You might know me from the column I used to write here at Unstressed Syllables, What I Learned About Writing This Week. Or you might have followed me over here from my own site, Court Can Write. In either case, you already know that […]
Tweet Part of my job these days–my actual job, for which I get paid–is being a writing coach. Obviously that’s most of the motivation for this site, too. And now that I’m finding some success as an indie writer, I even have fans contacting me to ask for tips on getting started as a storyteller. […]
Tweet I’ve told the story before, but back when I was 22, just as I was graduating with a writing degree and heading out into the real world, I had a bad experience that left me with a startling insight: Fantasy is dumb. That concept rocked my world. I’d spent my whole life devouring fantasy […]
Tweet As you’re well aware, I’m halfway through my pursuit of a Master of Professional Writing degree at the University of Oklahoma. My classes start tomorrow. But I was on campus yesterday running hither and yon, signing up for tutorial time with the chair of my graduate committee, applying for a two-hundred-dollar parking pass, and […]
Tweet Yesterday’s post on the narrative difference between conflict and adversity ended with some specific advice: Avoid adversity by putting malicious cause behind your protagonist’s setbacks. The best way to do that is to make your antagonist responsible, but sometimes it can be a challenge to follow through on that. The trick is to manage […]
Tweet It was a couple weeks ago when I talked about the importance of designing good story questions. Since then I’ve talked about the diverse properties of bones, and some rules for using story questions to build a structurally sound novel. Leaving out the cute story about my kid, most of the discussion has been […]
Tweet I’ve spent a couple weeks trying desperately to finish up Taming Fire for publication this month. But last time we talked, it was about the questions that keep people reading your stories, and the big story question that drives your story forward. I said offhand that well-designed story questions and scene questions make it […]
Tweet Way back in January I talked a little bit about playing karate with my little girl. At the time I had all kinds of things to say about her learning respect and trust and large motor skills all in one little activity. At the time, I referred to it as one of her favorite […]
Tweet This week we’re talking about industry terms, and specifically focusing on the questions that keep people reading. Yesterday I talked about the gimmicks–hooks and plates–but today I want to talk about your load-bearing questions. These are the questions that form the foundation of your story. They’re the questions that drive your protagonist through some […]
Having no idea whatsoever how long it might take to rewrite Legend’s Heir (working title), and needing a writing project other than blogging (so that I wouldn’t go crazy), I sat down this past weekend and started rewriting what I am now referring to as The Monster Epic Fantasy Novel (MEFaN) — thereby proving that I have gone crazy.
