Literary devices are the building blocks of literature, helping shape how a story is told and how it affects readers.

Fantasy is a genre of strange and diverse stories covering countless themes, concepts and ideas, in order to gain a better understanding of how our stories work and the nature of their structure, it can be useful to look at the ways they are categorised and study what traits make them what they are. The MICE quotient is a formula developed by Orsen Scott Card that deals with the four elements that determine structure, these are Milieu, Idea, Character, and Event. All stories will contain all elements, but there is usually one that dominates the others and determines the story structure. It is the element that the author cares for the most and spends the most effort on, shaping the whole narrative.

At some point as you're writing a novel, you're gonna get stuck, especially when juggling plotlines. Here's a trick that always gets me back on track.

My new mystery series features the proprietor of an apron shop located on the Maine coast, a setting rich in cultural associations. Lobster. Lighthouses. Quaint villages and rocky cliffs crowned wi…

If we view platform-building as part of a mission to transform lives, not just sell books, the possibilities for engagement are endless.

Some storytelling habits don't translate from the screen to the page.

Six ways to turn an unlikeable person into a likeable character, with April Ludgate.

ALT: a person riding on the back of a horse in a video game with the number 2 visible

Jane Austen is a master of dialogue, and the next series of lessons will focus on what we can learn from Jane Austen on writing dialogue in fiction. This post will specifically address when to use dialogue tags—and how.

Here are more than 100 grammar rules for writers to assist them with better writing skills. Each rule includes a quick breakdown and links to a post that goes into more detail with examples. This list will be updated with new rules as we add them to the site.

How to craft your story's twists and turns to feel natural.

We use limiting adjectives a lot in writing to modify nouns by including specific or precise information about them.

We use limiting adjectives a lot in writing to modify nouns by including specific or precise information about them.