Young adult

How (And Why) To Write A Mentor Character - A scene reminiscent of The Karate Kid, with a mentor blowing spitballs at his pupil.
Writing
Fred Johnson

How (And Why) To Write A Mentor Character

It’s common knowledge that stories tend to only be as good as their characters. This means, unsurprisingly, that your protagonist needs to be great – they will need to develop as the plot progresses, be engaging and sympathetic (even if they’re not likable), and overcome challenges in a convincing and exciting manner. Writers often focus

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Five Things Anthony Horowitz Can Teach You About Writing - Horowitz stands with an open book, characters spilling out.
Marketing
Fred Johnson

Five Things Anthony Horowitz Can Teach You About Writing

Few of us who were children in the nineties made it through childhood without consuming at least one of Anthony Horowitz’s action-packed YA spy thrillers. His Alex Rider series was (and remains) incredibly popular, but that’s not to forget his The Gatekeepers series, his Sherlock Holmes novels, his TV and film writing, or the dozens

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How To Craft A Fascinating Quest Narrative - A character sets off on a quest, map in hand.
Writing
Rebecca Langley

How To Craft A Fascinating Quest Narrative

From Gilgamesh setting out to learn the secret of immortality to the real-life adventures of Chris McCandless, quest narratives have always enthralled us. It could be the allegory (life’s a journey, right?) or boredom with our own nine-to-fives, but whatever it is, the genre is satisfying… if it’s done right. The dark side of quest

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Reader Proxies: What They Are And When They’re Useful - A reader manipulates a puppet that looks exactly like them.
Writing
Fred Johnson

Reader Proxies: What They Are And When They’re Useful

Not all works of fiction rely on a cast made up exclusively of deep, complex, and inscrutable characters. Some need a character that the audience can inhabit or possess; a platform for the reader to survey the world from and a mouthpiece for their own questions and thoughts. Such ‘reader proxy’ (or, in the case

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