by Cole Salao
Whether it’s a movie, a book, or a video game, a sympathetic villain is guaranteed to make a story much more engaging. There’s a conflict between wanting the hero to succeed and commiserating with the villain. It’s a complex feeling that’s hard to understand, much...
by Cole Salao
Have you ever read a book or watched a movie where a character survives something impossible? This is called plot armor—the invincibility granted to a character proportional to their importance to a story. It’s generally a bad way to protect your characters and extend...
by Cole Salao
Young Adult fiction is currently one of the most popular genres in literature. It’s mostly written for people aged 12 to 18, and as such, captures the many experiences that teens and preteens usually undergo. Most of the books you’ve read or movies you’ve seen are...
by Cole Salao
Writing is often depicted as a solitary craft. When you think of a writer, you often imagine a lone person facing their computer screen, typing away with no care of the outside world. It’s a perfectly valid way of writing, but far from the only one. Some writers like...
by Cole Salao
Killing a character is one of the most difficult things to do as a writer. It’s not only that you despise yourself for it or that your audience does, it’s also because you could permanently damage the narrative. You’ve probably experienced the devastation of...
by Yen Cabag
If you find yourself staring at a blank page not knowing what to write, you know exactly how many students feel when asked to work on a writing assignment! The good news is that giving students or kids a picture to start with can be a great launching pad. This is why...
