by Cole Salao
Gone are the days when heroes simply need to embody Good. It doesn’t matter what genre you’re writing in, your character must not only be memorable but unique enough to avoid being derivative. After all, premises and settings get your readers diving into a book but...
by Cole Salao
Coming-of-age stories explore a character’s transformative experiences—particularly their transition from adolescence to adulthood. Such stories echo the maturation, personal growth, and self-discovery you encounter as you grow older. In these stories, certain themes...
by Cole Salao
Language—with all its oddities and variations—can often lead people down amusing paths. One such path is the crash blossom, a headline so confusing and weird that it will leave you scratching your head. Crash Blossoms Crash Blossoms gained its name when editor Mike...
by Cole Salao
English is weird—even experts in the language agree. Though a sentence can look and sound bizarre, it is probably still grammatically accurate. What’s the weirdest, most tangled English sentence you’ve ever encountered? Chances are, there’s plenty more where that came...
by Cole Salao
Stories aren’t just about the hero and villain. To create a well-rounded narrative, plenty of supporting characters act as foils. They shine a light on the main characters but also become iconic story elements. One such character is the comic relief, who is...
by Cole Salao
When you read or watch dramatic, highly emotional stories, there are often some comedic scenes peppered in to alleviate some of the tension. This is called comic relief. It’s an age-old plot device that has been used to let your audience “breathe” from the story....
