Guides
Make Repetition Work Harder In Your WritingRepetition is one of the oldest tools in a writer’s kit. A repeated word, phrase, image or sentence pattern can create rhythm, strengthen an idea and give a…Magic systems based on cost and consequenceMagic becomes memorable when a character cannot simply wave a wand and solve the problem. A system built around cost and consequence asks what the character…How to write a heist novel with a perfectly orchestrated plotA heist novel earns tension from anticipation: readers should know enough to expect a break-in, a switch and a getaway while still wondering when the plan will…Writing a food memoir that tastes like memory and placeA good food memoir sits somewhere between cookbook, autobiography, and travelogue. It should leave the reader feeling as if they have walked through a wet…The role of the author’s note in fiction and nonfictionA reader often meets the writer before a story begins, or after its final words, through a brief authorial note. In fiction, it may establish a historical…How to Craft a Memorable Antagonist Who Drives the ConflictA great antagonist does far more than obstruct the hero. They shape the entire architecture of a story, forcing every choice the protagonist makes to carry…Crafting a YA Book Series That Evolves With Its ReadersYoung adult fiction occupies a unique space on the Australian bookshelf, sitting between middle grade and adult literature while commanding its own devoted…Crafting a prologue that earns its place in modern fictionPrologues used to be shorthand for epic. They conjured up ancient maps, weighty world-building, and the kind of backstory that propped open a saga like a…Quiet rooms, loud hearts: building suspense in a domestic dramaThere's an unspoken rule in commercial fiction that suspense needs explosions, chases, and at least one body on the floor by page forty. Domestic drama arrives…Layering meaning beneath the words: subtext in character dialogueWriters often assume that great dialogue means witty one-liners, but the truth is that the most memorable exchanges in fiction are the ones that hide as much…
