Dear friends, I write a lot about self-care here, and it's time to practice what I preach. I've been sick a lot—nothing dire, but cold season has hit my family hard—and having a hard time keeping up with my many responsibilities. I want to be able to write Story Hospital from a place of strength and joy. Until I have the health and wherewithal to do that, I'll be stepping back. Thanks as always for your support of Story Hospital. I hope to be back very soon.
GYWO: When Your Inner Critic Stops You from Writing
We've all had to deal with tough critics, and sometimes your toughest critic lives in your head.
#130: Pen Names and Shame
Your letter sounds like you've almost talked yourself into believing you're ashamed of what you want to write, just because you've had the idea of using a pen name for it.
#129: Overthinking Themes
Today is the fifth Tuesday of the month, which means that my answer to this heartfelt letter is available exclusively to my Patreon patrons.
#128: Writing for Money, Writing for Joy
Dear Story Nurse, I've been working hard the last year on putting my work out there: shopping a fully edited novel round to agents, pitching and submitting short fiction/game writing and putting some stuff up for free. While I've had a good response when I have a direct audience (i.e. with my alpha readers, free … Continue reading #128: Writing for Money, Writing for Joy
#127: The Ethics of Turning Fanfic into Original Fiction
It's extremely common for writers to read or watch something and feel inspired to create an original story. You just had an intermediate step.
#126: The Five Key Ingredients of Plot
Hi, Story Nurse! I’ve created a great cast of characters that I have fleshed out and given a great amount of detail and attention to. While I haven’t fleshed it out completely, I’ve also come up with a world and different species and cultures in it. The problem is, I don’t have a plot. I … Continue reading #126: The Five Key Ingredients of Plot
#125: Developing a Secondary Character Within First-Person POV
This question came from the priority request queue for my Patreon patrons. Thanks for your support, letter writer! Dear Story Nurse, I'm doing the pre-work/planning/worldbuilding for a novel I'm super excited about. I've already written one of the scenes that first showed up in my head and gave me the idea for this story, because I … Continue reading #125: Developing a Secondary Character Within First-Person POV
The writing year in review, and plans for 2019
Dear friends, Here we are at the end of 2018. It's been a challenging year for many of us, and also a year of tremendous achievements for many of us. I invite you to use the comments on this post to share your writing accomplishments and talk about what you have planned for the coming … Continue reading The writing year in review, and plans for 2019
#124: Breaking the Fantasy Mold
Hello Story Nurse, I've been writing fantasy for as long as I can remember. I love creating characters, I love building world, and I love the feeling of actually sitting down to write. But when it comes to actually coming up with a plot, I struggle. I typically come up with a plot about 30K … Continue reading #124: Breaking the Fantasy Mold
Story Hospital 