by Brandon Miller | Aug 25, 2017 | Articles, Characters, Plot, Theme
What do character, theme, and tension have in common? They are all results of genuine internal conflict in a story. What is internal conflict? As opposed to external conflict which involves characters battling antagonists, internal conflict ensues when a character...by kingdompen | Aug 7, 2017 | Articles, Plot
Conflict is often viewed as two forces that clash and cause tension, but it’s much more complicated than that. Conflict is engaging because it prevents a character from attaining a desirable goal, which readers can empathize with because of the struggles in...by Josiah DeGraaf | Feb 17, 2017 | Articles, Plot
One of my favorite classes that I took at a homeschool co-op during high school was a chess class taught by a local grandmaster. I learned many different chess openings, position tactics, and endgame tactics, all of which improved my chess strategy. One day the...by kingdompen | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Characters
One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a writer is to allow all your protagonists to get along with each other. Many of us are inclined to do this because we love our characters. The protagonists are all working together toward the same goal, right? So why...