Fantasy stories, books, and tips for new writers

If plotting feels like too heavy an investment, and pantsing often keeps you stuck, a good approach that can help you make progress on your book is loose outlining. A loose outline is like a plot, only that it doesn’t need to be particularly detailed or even complete; it can be a general idea of the main events or just the next part of the book you’re about to write. Having a plan (even a loosely defined one) is a great way of ensuring that you know where your story is going,

When it comes to writing, some writers rush to take a side—either planning their book to the last detail and following that plan to the letter, or letting the muse guide them, writing when inspiration strikes and figuring things out as they go along. But have you ever wondered if you could be a plotter and a pantser at the same time and combine both approaches? In the previous two posts, I’ve shared an overview of both the pantsing and plotting approaches to writing, discusse

In the previous post , we talked about the pantsing approach to writing—what it is, why it works, and what to do when it doesn’t. But if sitting in front of a blank page sounds like more anxiety than fun, plotting might be the better writing approach for you. If you’re new to plotting, wondering if it might work for you, or find it challenging, this guide will help you understand what plotting is and how to use it to write your book. In today’s post, we’ll look at: What is Pl