Success Points Highlights
Deadline-Driven Drama: How Time Pressure Shapes Story Stakes
I’ve written plenty of scenes that felt technically perfect. I’m not patting myself on the back, but they had good pacing, good dialogue, perfect structure, and everything progressed and developed as it should. And the scene still didn’t work. I used to try to fix...
The Anatomy of a Perfect Title: What Every Writer Should Know
Have you ever stared at the top of a blank page, not looking at the story but looking at the title, and felt like a complete idiot because you can’t put a name to the thing that it took you 120,000 words to write? You’re not alone. In my consulting work, titles stop...
Writing the Wind: Capturing the Soul of the Your Landscape
We are all writers from somewhere. For me, it is the South, and more specifically, Appalachia. It’s my culture, just as your culture is yours, and it makes up who I am and what I express as a writer. As I write this essay about my place and time, think about your...
Why Values Matter: Writing Characters Whose Morals Shape the Plot
Have you ever written a scene that looked good on paper, but there was just something about it that didn’t have…something? Maybe it felt hollow. Perhaps the characters said all the right things, yet…Maybe the setting was vivid, and you described it perfectly,...
Beyond the Message: Why Advanced Writers Must Let Theme Emerge, Not Dictate
As writers, we often feel this burning need to say something important. We’ve lived. We’ve lost. We’ve witnessed. We’ve studied the human condition, wrestled with pain, and collected moments of truth we feel everyone should know. We feel impassioned. We want to take...
Writing for Actors – How Clear Objectives Make Characters Irresistible to Actors Wanting to Perform Your Work
I’ve been a professional actor, and I’ve written for actors, and I can tell you that when actors read a script, they’re not looking for beautiful words; they’re searching the script for a purpose, a purpose aligned explicitly with the role they are interested in...
Mastering the Ticking Clock: How Urgency Drives Scene Momentum
One of the most powerful tools a writer has in his pocket is urgency. When you think about the last great book or movie you read or saw, the one you couldn’t seem to move fast enough through because it was so incredible and you had to rush forward to find out what...
The Silent Promise: Why Writing is a Commitment to Yourself
If you’re like me, writing isn’t just about putting words on a page. It’s about writing something with meaning. It’s a promise. Every time you write, you make a silent contract with yourself that your thoughts, stories, and ideas are honest, fair, and worth capturing....
Success Point of the Day: Why Writing is a Business: Balancing Creativity and Profitability
When we think of writing, we think of sitting at a keyboard or with a pen and composing our thoughts. Sometimes, some of us will expand our thinking and include writing as part of the reflective time when relaxing in the evening or taking a walk to decompress (though...
How Layered Writing Engages Readers and Elevates Your Story – Writing Tips from Clay Stafford
Writing Tip of the Day: Introduction to Layered Writing — What Is It and Why Should You Care? Layered writing sounds pretty much like it is. It involves weaving multiple narrative elements into the same passage or scene, such as plot, character, theme, emotion, and...
Writing Is a Habit, Not Talent: How Mindset Shapes the Writer’s Journey
I don’t know how often someone has told me about their idea for a book, and I’ve told them they should write it only to have the next line out of their mouth be, “I would if I had the talent.” Talented writers love to say it is about talent, but I’ve known some...
How to Intentionally Create the Perfect Day—Everyday
This essay is crazy talk. Yesterday was the perfect day, a snapshot of what every day could be like in my ideal world. We all know that life interferes. That’s what life does. I used to think that these sorts of days, the perfect ones, were anomalies, but over the...