• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
    • About WHW
    • Press Kit
    • Resident Writing Coaches
    • Contact Us
    • Podcasts & Interviews
    • Master Storytelling Newsletter
    • Guest Post Guidelines
    • Privacy Policy
    • Charities & Support
  • Bookstore
    • Bookstore
    • Foreign Editions
    • Book Reviews
    • Free Thesaurus Sampler
  • Blog
  • Software
  • Workshops
  • Resources
    • List of Resources
    • Recommended Writing Books
    • WHW Descriptive Thesaurus Collection
    • Free Tools & Worksheets
    • Free Show-Dont-Tell Pro Pack
  • WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

Improve Your Storytelling in 5 Minutes

Published: July 25, 2023 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

What are writers chronically short on? Time.

There never seems to be enough of it as we try to get the next book written, research our publishing options, keep up with marketing, work on our platform, etc., and that doesn’t even factor in what’s happening in other areas of our life. And as we juggle, the one thing that can help us succeed more than anything else is often neglected: education to help us improve our storytelling skills.

Introducing Mini-Lessons

You guys know Becca and I have a lot to say about description and how showing the right things in the right way means readers are pulled in and will care deeply about characters and what’s happening in their lives. We’ve written books on many description elements and have even more of these in our THESAURUS database at One Stop for Writers.

This summer, Becca and I have recorded a mini lesson for each of our thesauruses, helping you better understand that story element, what its superpower is in your story, and how to activate that detail through description.

Each video takes you through a thesaurus in the One Stop for Writers database, but you don’t need to be a subscriber to benefit from these lessons or use our thesauruses (although they are very helpful for brainstorming). But if you are someone who uses them, this will broaden your understanding so you get even more value from each brainstorming list.

Bite-sized learning is a perfect match for busy writers

Life can be hectic, making it hard to carve out big blocks of time for learning. With these videos, you need about 5 (ish) minutes. Totally doable! Whether you want to learn how to describe a character’s emotions, activate the power of your scene’s setting, or understand character motivation better so plotting becomes easier, a helpful mini-lesson is waiting for you.

Here’s the playlist, or choose the topic you’d like to know more about below.

Happy writing and learning!

Grow Your Skills with Becca & Angela


How to Describe a Character’s Appearance

How Emotional Trauma Affects Characters & Their Arc

How to Use a Character’s Fears in Storytelling

How to Create a Character Readers Will Love

How to Give a Character Flaws that Will Hold Them Back

How the Right Setting Details Make a Scene More Powerful

How to Create a Memorable Character Using a Talent or Skill

How to Show What Your Character Is Feeling

How to Use Conflict to Power up Your Story

How to Write Your Theme and Use Effective Symbolism in Fiction

How to Use the Weather to Build Mood and Generate Conflict

How to Find the Right Job for a Character

How to Bring Readers Into a Story Using Textures

How to Create Vivid Description Using Colors and Patterns

How Describing an Object’s Shape the Right Way Strengthens the Story

How to Build Strong Characters & Arcs

How to Amplify Your Character’s Emotional State

Need more help as you plan, write, and revise? Join us at One Stop!

ANGELA ACKERMAN
ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: About Us, Backstory, Basic Human Needs, Character Arc, Character Flaws, Character Hobbies, Character Traits, Character Wound, Characters, Cliches, Conflict, Description, Empathy, Fatal Flaw, Mood and Atmosphere, Motivation, Occupations, One Stop For Writers, Pacing, Plotting, Point of View, Relationships, Setting, Show Don't Tell, Software and Services, Stereotypes, Subtext, Tension, Theme, Tools and Resources, Uncategorized, Villains, Writing Craft, Writing Lessons, Writing Resources

Primary Sidebar


Welcome!

Writing is hard. Angela & Becca make it easier. Get ready to level up your fiction with game-changing tools, resources, and advice.

Subscribe to the Blog

Check your inbox to confirm! If gremlins tried to eat it, you might have to check your spam folder.

Find it Fast

Read by Category

Grab Our Button

Writers Helping Writers

Software that Will Change the Writing Game

One Stop for Writers

Join our Writers Helping Writers Newsletter

NO AI TRAINING: Any use of this content to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The legal copyright holder, Writers Helping Writers®, reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models. WRITERS HELPING WRITERS® · Copyright © 2025 · WEBSITE DESIGN BY LAUGH EAT LEARN

 

Loading Comments...