Ryan Lanz's Blog, page 13

How to Survive and Conquer NaNoWriMo

You might just want to know if you can do this. Is there time? Is 50,000 words a thing you can even do, ever? First of all: yes. Second of all, don’t think of it as writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Think of it as writing 1,667 words every day during November. […]

When Are You Ready to Publish?

Today I was telling a girl at work how scared I am to be publishing.  My first story comes out on Sunday and I’m freaking out, I told her.  She was sweet, saying I’d be fine, and then she said something that threw me.  They wouldn’t be publishing you if you weren’t ready. Umm. See, […]

The Three Tiers of Mindful Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding can be an overwhelming process, especially if you’re working in a genre that requires lots of it. Some genres need more detail than others. For example, writing in a historical genre requires that you conduct lots of research on the society you placed the story in, but you don’t need to worry about inventing […]

What to Do When You Dislike Your Writing

Disliking your work takes a toll on any writer. Imagine you spent days, weeks, months, or even years on a piece of writing. You edited and rewrote. You spent hours trying to get everything just right, but nothing had made it “right.” What you may have been confident about during the writing process no longer […]

4 Reasons to Use the “Save the Cat” Story Structure in Your Writing

You may be familiar with the seven-point story structure or the classic hero’s journey, but have you ever heard of “Save the Cat”? With a classic three-act set-up as a base, “Save the Cat” offers fifteen plot beats to help authors navigate the expanse between the first and third act. Originally, created for screenplays by […]

Writing While Supporting Your Mental Health

As writers, it’s not uncommon to continuously search for new opportunities and attempt to come up with new story ideas. But there is always the threat of trying to do too much too soon, which can take a toll on our mental health. There is the struggle with mentally pushing yourself forward with your writing. […]

Balancing Story and Worldbuilding at Any Writing Stage

Creating that first draft of a story is no easy feat. Worldbuilding within your story is an entirely different monster to tackle. You might have plenty of ideas for what you want your story to be about. You might have been outlining the different characteristics you want your created world to have as you world-build. […]

How to Handle Writer Jealousy

We’ve all been there. Your classmate’s story is praised in workshop, while yours is torn apart. “Poorly written” romances dominate best-seller lists, while your science fiction novel languishes in Amazon’s 2,000,000 ranking spot. The author you follow on Instagram posts their third cover reveal this year, while you struggle to finish your manuscript. There’s a thousand ways that we […]

How to Build Your Characters in Six Easy Steps

So you’ve got a great idea for a novel or story that you’re DYING to tell. The premise is profound, the symbolism is subtle, and the big reveal at the end is going to blow your readers’ minds. You throw together an outline and show it to an editor friend. They read over it and […]

20 Tips For Writing a Captivating Short Story

Today, as I edit, trim, cut, and otherwise obliterate a short story I wrote that ended up to be 8,000 words, but needs to be 5,000 words, I am reminded of this quote: “Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.” -Henry David Thoreau Wise […]