Your latest novel or screenplay is progressing well.  You’ve established the main and supporting characters.  You’ve created the basic plot, and have plenty of ideas for scenarios to paint in order to tell your story.  But how can you develop your characters, and your story, to be compelling – to draw the reader or viewer in – to connect and really believe in the story?

Stanley Williams has a few tips for you, tips that are tried and true per his clients in Hollywood.  The author of “The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue and Vice” insists that the most compelling stories (be it fictional books or screen plays) are those in which a character’s behavior and motives align with real-life morals and values.  Focusing in on the “psychological and moral premise” of your story, and developing it according to the guidance in “The Moral Premise” is the recipe for success, according to Stan.

Want to learn more?  Purchase the book, or attend one of Stan’s workshops or seminars.  Get down to the business of making your work of fiction a great success – and may your premise be moral!

What happens when you meld an author and a computer programmer?  Innovation!  (And wouldn’t “The Medici Effect” author Frans Johansson be proud?)  Simon Haynes is a published sci-fi author who has a few decades experience as a programmer.  His worlds collided and a word processing program called yWriter was born.  yWriter helps authors break their writing up into sections (think chapters or scenes), while also tracking their work.  Much like software programs comprise numerous modules of various functions, yWriter breaks writing up into drag-and-drop-able scenes, chapters, characters, and more!

The latest version, yWriter5, is available as freeware (though, happy users can register their copies if they wish to support Simon).  Detailed installation instructions are provided for Windows, Linux and Mac platforms.

A favorable review of yWriter was featured on CNET several years ago, and one novelist praised yWriter even compared to commercial softwares with similar functionality.

Oh, and while this word processing tool was created with fiction writing in mind, it’s applicable to everything from playwriting to non-fiction.  Now go grab your free copy – happy writing!