Resources, insights, and inspiration for writers at every stage of their journey.
From the instructors who have helped over 100,000 aspiring authors learn their craft.
Recent Articles
- Your Setting Isn’t Working If the Scene Could Happen Anywhere
Setting isn’t backdrop—it’s a structural force. The physical space should constrain and enable the action in ways that make this scene inseparable from this place. - Why Your Characters Say What They Don’t Mean
A character says “I’m fine” after learning her sister got the promotion she wanted. She’s not fine. Every reader knows it. What earns their attention is whether she’ll keep pretending, and at what cost. That… - Why Most Prologues Are the Wrong First Chapter
Most prologues are chapter 1 of a different book. The writer can’t bear to start without context. So she writes three pages of backstory—a historical event, a character who won’t appear until page 200, a… - Why Your Novel’s Ending Should Echo Its Beginning
Most novels end on the wrong image. The plot resolves. The protagonist wins or loses or learns something. The last paragraph sums up what it all meant. And the reader puts the book down feeling… - The One Question That Fixes Flat Scenes
The fastest way to kill a scene is to put a character in a room with no reason to be there. Everybody knows their protagonist wants to solve the murder or win the girl or… - Why “Three Weeks Later” Doesn’t Work
Most novels spanning more than a few days handle time the same way: a chapter ends Tuesday night, the next opens “Three weeks later, Sarah stood at the kitchen window.” The reader’s brain skips like… - Why All Your Confrontation Scenes Feel the Same
Your protagonist argues with her mother in chapter three. Argues with her boss in chapter seven. Argues with her boyfriend in chapter twelve. Three different people, three different rooms, the same emotional beat every time:… - Why All Your Characters Sound Alike
Cover a character’s name in your manuscript and read the line aloud. If you can’t tell who said it, you have a voice problem. Most characters in most drafts talk the same way. Same vocabulary,… - One Detail Does the Work of Five
A coffee mug with three days of dried rings tells the reader more about your character than a whole paragraph describing her apartment. Writers default to the camera pan. The desk, the bookshelves, the window… - Every Scene Needs a Coin Flip
Every scene in your novel starts somewhere emotionally and ends somewhere else. If it starts and ends in the same place, nothing happened. Sounds obvious. It isn’t. I recently reread a draft where the protagonist… - Why Your Characters Think Too Much on the Page
Characters who think too much on the page stop your story cold. A protagonist considers her options, weighs the risks, remembers something from her childhood, and three paragraphs later she still hasn’t opened the door…. - Your Reader Solved Your Twist in Chapter Four
Foreshadowing fails when the reader sees it coming. A character mentions a gun in chapter two. By chapter eight, someone’s been shot. The reader wrote that ending for you somewhere around chapter four. Real foreshadowing…
About Writing Academy
Writing Academy offers comprehensive video courses for aspiring authors. Whether you’re writing your first novel, exploring screenwriting, or ready to publish, our self-paced courses provide the structure and guidance you need.
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Your Instructors
Steve Alcorn
USA Today bestselling author of twenty novels and non-fiction books, including mysteries, young adult novels, children’s books, and the acclaimed writer’s guide How to Fix Your Novel. Steve also founded Alcorn McBride Inc, which provides audio and video systems for theme parks worldwide.
Dani Alcorn
Author, instructor, editor, and mentor. Dani trained in screenwriting at Northwestern University and the University of British Columbia and worked as a professional medical writer. She is the author of screenplays and a science fiction novel.