One of my clients/friends/associates recently sent me a message asking for a Writer's Workshop about the writing process. Well, like a really crappy genie, your wish is my command! ...Eventually.

Step 1. Conceiving the Idea. For some, this is the easiest part, while for others, it can be maddeningly difficult. Personally, I've never had a problem with it, so let me share with you some of the tricks I use to come up with my ideas.

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Hey, all! I wanted to let you know that I'm changing the plagiarism box on my main page. First, because I don't give large text examples that much anymore anyway, and second, because my philosophy towards plagiarism has changed a bit. I'll also be adding something else that I hope will be interesting to people, but that's going to get a bit more fanfare.

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The idea for this Writer's Workshop came to me on accident. I was answering a question about characterization (using my three-Aspect method, naturally), when I stumbled onto a characterization staple that I've essentially overlooked. It's also a common term that you may not really understand: "chemistry." Who better to talk about character chemistry than the writer with a major in chemistry? (It's true. Double major. Tell your friends.) So let's explore the chemistry of character interaction

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I'd like you to take a moment and look at a list of all of your characters. Beside each character's name, write either "Good Guy" or "Bad Guy." Now, here's the question: was that task easy for you, or was it difficult? In lots of media, this won't pose much of a challenge; every character is either thoroughly aligned with the heroes or unrepentantly evil. Perhaps your story fell down those same lines; let me assure you that this is perfectly fine. But perhaps you might like to take a moment and

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Today, I'd like to talk about genre--what it means, how it applies to stories, and what you can do to improve your story's genre. A lot of this will be based off of Shawn Coyne's Story Grid, which you can find for free on his website if you're interested.

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[Workshop today contains heavy topics. Just to let you know.]

When I was 17, I wrote a story in English class about a drug addict killing herself.

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For some authors, our characters are like our children. We want them to grow and develop, but we want that in the most painless, effective way possible. Unfortunately, "painless" is just a synonym for "without conflict," and since conflict is the core of storytelling, this can turn out kind of boring. No, in order to write a good story, we as authors must be the bad guys. We have to embody the antagonists, the obstacles, the trials and tribulations. We need to make the characters earn

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No, that's not the name of my new law firm. It's three different concepts to help you make every part of your story interesting.

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Most of my previous Workshops have been pretty 101--nothing too complicated. Today, I want to talk about something that will kick your story up a notch--deeper meaning. This will get pretty abstract, so buckle up. If you want to stop being an amateur writer and write stuff that will last, this lesson is for you.

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All of us are embedded with ideas and concepts we've picked up from our culture. These ideas appear in our stories so easily that oftentimes we don't realize that there could be any other way to tell it. I'd like to take this moment to look at these assumptions and illuminate some alternate possibilities. (Think of this as a prototype Formula Breakers.) For starters, let's check out:

The Call to Action

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