Patricia E. Poillucci
Skylites Adventures
October 16, 2020
Mystery Detectives
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Any fan of mysteries would be happy to tell you that mystery detectives come in all shapes and forms. Some are detectives because they want to be like Sherlock Holmes, Encyclopedia Brown,…
Follow That Clue!
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The Clue-Theory-Test Method of Plotting Mysteries For many writers trying mystery writing for the first time, one of the things that feel the hardest is leaving clues for the reader. So let’s…
Mystery For Young Children
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Basically every book I write is an adventure story or a mystery, and many are both. By definition, a mystery involves a puzzle with someone trying to solve the puzzle. For adults,…
Love Scenes: Spicy or Sweet?
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > One of the issues with writing romance in young adult novels lies in the question of how far to push the love scenes. Do you stop at the kiss and fade to…
Conflict Is So Romantic
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Like any strong story, romance needs conflict. Without conflict, romantic stories can be dully predictable. After all, the vast majority of romances end with the characters together. Readers are confident that will…
Characters Make the Romance
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > With romance such an important element of YA novels, it can be easy to focus all the attention on creating the main character, only to give the second romantic lead less attention…
Corinne Mordaunt
Keep the Light Burning
August 28, 2020
Walking Through a Developing Story Structure | IFW
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > It all begins in your head Those of us who tend to plan our stories extensively before we write don’t pull that plan from our heads in a complete, coherent form. Just…
Structure in Narrative Nonfiction Articles | IFW
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Most nonfiction can be roughly divided into two types: expository or narrative. Expository nonfiction is mainly concerned with conveying information. The most common structure of expository nonfiction consists of breaking the main…
Traditional Plot Structure for Very Short Stories | IFW
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Stories for very young children are short. In fact, picture books these days are usually around 500 words and often well under. Stories for children’s magazines are often the same length or…
Beginning, Middle, and End
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > What Do We Need from Each? Although the structure of both fiction and nonfiction can be broken down and described in different ways, one simple method is simply to think of your…
Does Popularity Matter?
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > One of the most common pieces of writing advice is “write the story that is in you” with the companion advice of “trends don’t matter.” So is that actually correct? If you…
Feeling Spoofy?
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > One of the most antic ways to write humor is the spoof. A spoof is a story that pokes fun of a specific form or genre. It’s written as a caricature of…
Angela LaCarrubba
Nobody’s Purr-fect (Especially Not Georgie)
July 17, 2020
Five Steps To Finding Your Funny
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Humor is a personal thing. There are things about humor that tend to be universal, but for each person, the specific things that will trigger amusement are different. And the level of…
Humor For Older Readers
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Humor For Older Readers Although teens may crack fewer knock-knock jokes or giggle less often over puns, humor is a popular ingredient in young adult books and stories. Humor can be both…
You Write Funny
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > As a left-handed person, I’ve been told I write funny a number of times in my life. That comment is an interesting take on the word “funny.” We think of humor as…
The Value of Short
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > For the last few weeks, I’ve been reading short stories. I’ve always loved short stories but they especially suit my ability to focus at present. And reading all these short stories is…
Alicia Klepeis
Little Gestalten
June 19, 2020