Outlining an Epic Adventure With the Hero’s Journey

Today we have the great privilege of having Lewis Jorstad with us to share about how to use the Hero’s Journey to outline our stories. Lewis is an editor and book coach who also leads the thriving writing community over at The Novel Smithy. Without further ado- take it away, Lewis! Outlining an Epic Adventure […]

Bethany’s Best: Spring 2023

Happy June and bring on the sunshine! We’re speeding toward summer so it’s time to bring you the latest quarterly installment of my favorite things along with what I’ve been reading and learning these days. Feel free to chime in with your own favorites below! I hope your spring is wrapping up well and that […]

Writing Well: Satisfying Story Endings

What are the qualities of a “good” book? Everyone has different aspects they enjoy when they’re reading, whether it’s humor, worldbuilding, or a tricksy plot. And no novel can (or should!) try to please everyone, that’s just a recipe for a mess! But there are core components of storytelling we should strive for that are […]

Fun For Writers And Book-Nerds

Today we’re not taking anything too seriously, we’re just having a bit of fun! Fun is important after all 🙂 Sometimes we think we’re too busy for fun, too busy to take a break, too busy to be happy. That can’t be healthy. In fact, sometimes taking breaks can actually lead to increased productivity by […]

Religion and Belief Systems in Worldbuilding

Last month we spent some time discussing worldbuilding, specifically how having an overall theme can tie our worldbuilding concepts together and looking at how including specific details can provide depth. (Go back and check it out if you missed it!) Today we’re looking at worldbuilding a bit more as we focus on religion and belief […]

18 Words for Word-Nerds

Recently my daughter, completely unprompted, ranked her top 10 favorite words to share with us. Her list included a few made up words and has now been expanded to include a more words she “really likes the sound of,” including “peanut butter” and “pickle.” What words do you like the sound of? When was the […]