#125: Developing a Secondary Character Within First-Person POV

This question came from the priority request queue for my Patreon patrons. Thanks for your support, letter writer! Dear Story Nurse, I'm doing the pre-work/planning/worldbuilding for a novel I'm super excited about. I've already written one of the scenes that first showed up in my head and gave me the idea for this story, because I …

#124: Breaking the Fantasy Mold

Hello Story Nurse, I've been writing fantasy for as long as I can remember. I love creating characters, I love building world, and I love the feeling of actually sitting down to write. But when it comes to actually coming up with a plot, I struggle. I typically come up with a plot about 30K …

#123: Writer’s Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Hello Story Nurse,I want to write a novel. But I'm stuck. I have previously published non-fiction work in thesis, publication, monograph and script format. To me this kind of writing is, if not easy, intuitive. Pitching what I'm writing to the right audience is my particular strength. I've written for experts in my field and …

#119: Separation Before Revision, Part One

Without a degree of separation between book and self, revision is far more difficult, and may be impossible.

#105: How Much Backstory Is Too Much

Today is the fifth Tuesday of the month, which means that my answer to this heartfelt letter is available exclusively to my Patreon patrons.

#104: Blocked When Switching from Fanfic to Original Fiction

You're not entirely starting from scratch—many of your skills will carry over—but skills aren't methods, and you will have to develop new methods.

#103: Writing Fluffy Stories in Thorny Times

Hi, Story Nurse, I just outlined a romance novella and I'm trying to figure out its setting. It's basically contemporary, with the obvious AU-ness that comes along with a functioning fantasy-genre-style system of magic—but who won in 2016? Has that election even happened yet in this 'verse? Can I write a simple fluffball escapist-fantasy romance …

#100: Knowing When to Throw In the Towel

You have written 100,000 words of a lesson for yourself, which is that you cannot start by taking harmful stereotypes as givens and then write a harmless book.

#99: Developing a Supporting Cast

Just as protagonists in some ways embody the Big Idea of your story, supporting characters are often avatars of its themes.

#85: Trans Characters Coming Out in Historical Fiction

Queer and trans narratives are so often revelation narratives that it's easy to forget there's a lot more to our lives than that.