Story craft Archives - J. Kenner

Story craft

Embracing couple and Ingram URL

How to write a compelling love scene

Don’t miss this article I wrote for the IngramSpark blog on how to write a love scene. (And no, it’s not just advice for romance authors!) Emotionally driven love scenes can be a powerful part of any story in any genre. And in a romance novel, they are even more key, because the love scenes […]

Story Telling Graphic

Scenes, Sequels, Causes, and Effects

Therefore…she found the treasure! But … she forgot to draw the map!  I’ve been on a craft kick lately, as in I’ve been attending a lot of workshops, watching a lot of videos, reading books on craft, etc. Partly because I’m actually writing some short books on various aspects of craft (yeah, you’ll hear more […]

Make Your Book Reader-Worthy

Thank goodness Shelly Thacker walks her own path, otherwise she might be a forest ranger instead of a national bestselling author giving us all sorts of fabulous books to read!  Not sure what I’m talking about? Check out her bio! As NaNoWriMo wraps up, I’m thrilled to have Shelly guest-blogging today with wonderful insight into […]

The "Supreme" Key to Creating Characters

This post continues where Monday’s post (From Supreme Ruler of the Universe to Girl Next Door: How to Write Believable Characters) left off. You, as the supreme ruler of your story, have given your character a goal. Excellent. And your goal as a writer is to create a well-paced story that has compelling characters and […]

Short or long, stories pack powerful punches

Today, I’m blogging over at the Whine Sisters, and I posted a link to Porcelain Unicorn, a truly lovely short film. And I mean short. Just three minutes. Pop on over and check it out if you want to see a truly powerful punch packed into just three short minutes. Compare that to something like […]

Shane Black knows action

Okay, that’s a duh headline if ever there was one, but it’s true. And while I aspire to include just geegobs of original content on this blog, at the moment, I’m reading, revising and (yes! thank you!) fixing a story problem per an epiphany in an upcoming book. Which translates to: Original content? Not so […]

Indiana Jones and the status quo

I’ve been listening to some tapes on story craft, and something in one of them recently struck me. In a nutshell, the instructor was talking about the first act, and how in the set-up, we see the hero in their ordinary life–the status quo. Then, per the Hero’s Journey, Joseph Campbell, Vogler, and basic story […]

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