by Nanci | Jun 8, 2026 | Craft, Podcast, Structure
Most first-time novelists think in chapters — but chapters aren’t the structural units of your story. Scenes are. So what is a scene, exactly? And how is it different from a chapter? In this episode, I break down what a scene is, what it needs to do, how scenes...
by Nanci | Jun 1, 2026 | Craft, Podcast, Structure
You know your opening matters. You’ve probably rewritten it more than once. You’ve tried starting earlier, starting later, cutting the backstory, adding more tension. But something still isn’t landing and you can’t quite name why. The best...
by Nanci | May 18, 2026 | Character, Craft, Podcast, Structure
Your story feels stuck. You’ve reread the chapters, moved scenes around, added more conflict. But something still isn’t working and you can’t name what it is. There’s a layer underneath every stuck story that most writers never think to...
