Hey guys! Sophia and I are taking a short hiatus from posting on the Story Fortress for the next few weeks. We’re coming up on three years of posting every single week and thought it would be helpful to take an unprecedented break to reset and plan our vision for the blog in the near…
Author: Mara Scudder
No article today… But we have an exciting update!
You might have noticed there wasn’t an article up today. That’s because we’re busy preparing to speak at the Cascade Christian Writers Spring Conference tomorrow afternoon! We would love to have you join us (which you can do by clicking here), but if not we’ll be back next week with a new article up on…
Into the Spider-Verse: How to Use Subtext to Show Your Characters’ Bond
Almost three years ago, Sophia wrote an article on showing a character’s internal conflict without having them burst into song. While some of our most powerful forms of storytelling include heart-felt declarations through intense choruses, the reality is that we as writers don’t have that ability, and even if we did, most of our characters…
Inside Out 2: Answering Your Reader’s Questions
Every single premise comes with a set of questions — it’s just the nature of storytelling. The very concept of a new world or new characters or new conflict comes with certain elements of wonder and curiosity. And on the one hand, those questions work to our advantage as writers. It’s our readers’ curiosity that…
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Why Zuko Become Firelord (And Not Iroh)
If you’ve spent almost any time at all in the Avatar fandom, you’ve probably come across the question, “why did Zuko become firelord instead of Iroh?” Iroh, the wise old sage of the series, never fails to bring broadly-applicable wisdom to every situation, pushing characters into just the right position so that they can grow…
The Incredibles: Romantic Conflict, Done Well
A lot of stories — from historical novels to science fiction series and everything in between — deal with romantic drama. It’s simply too easy to have your main love interests fall in love right off the bat with no obstacles or challenges. Any good storyteller knows that conflict generates interest in your story, and…
Article Posting Tomorrow!
Hey guys! Unfortunately the article we planned to post this week is taking a bit longer than expected, but we should have it up and running sometime tomorrow. Thanks for your patience in the meantime! — Mara
Mara, Daughter of the Nile: Writing with Timeless Prose
In my experience, it’s pretty easy to guess the era a book is from. Whether it’s a Victorian classic or a modern YA adventure, a lot of times you don’t have to look at the copyright page to tell around what date it was written and published. For a lot of works, their time period…
Taking a Break for Christmas
You might have noticed there wasn’t an article up on the Story Fortress yesterday. As usual, we’re taking our annual Christmas break this week, but you can expect a brand-new article up and running this Friday! Merry Christmas, Mara and Sophia
Stranger Things: The Power of an Immersive World
We’ve written a lot about what makes emotional scenes hit home, especially tragic ones. We had a whole series on it this summer, and both Sophia and I have individually written about techniques you can use to make character deaths hit home. But there’s one concept we haven’t had the chance to explore yet, and…