by Amelia Loken | Sep 27, 2026 | Writing Craft
When I first picked up Story Genius by Lisa Cron, I was in the middle of an intense season of studying story structure. My critique group and I were learning to think like engineers, dissecting manuscripts with terms like Midpoint, First Plot Point, and character arc....
by Amelia Loken | Sep 11, 2026 | Writing Craft
For my first five years as a writer, I focused almost entirely on mastering the craft of prose. After joining SCBWI, I was invited into a critique group made up of an eclectic mix of picture book creators, middle grade authors, and YA novelists. The mentors in that...
by Amelia Loken | Sep 4, 2026 | Writing Craft
I read Stephen King’s On Writing early in my writing journey. At the time, I was voraciously searching for writing craft books that might help me understand how stories worked and how writers actually learned their craft. The funny thing is that I had never read...
by Amelia Loken | Aug 29, 2026 | Writing Craft
Learning the Language of Story When I first read Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder, I was about a year or two into writing my first novel. Like many aspiring writers, I had spent most of my life consuming stories without fully understanding how they worked. I didn’t...
by Amelia Loken | Aug 21, 2026 | Writing Craft
Innocence or Ignorance? Early in my writing journey, nearly eighteen years ago, I didn’t have a road map. I had a story I loved, a stack of library books, and the kind of earnest determination that makes you believe you can figure out anything if you squint hard...
by Amelia Loken | Jul 26, 2026 | Writing Craft
There’s a familiar pattern in stories about disabled characters — one we’ve all seen, whether in classic literature, modern YA, or blockbuster films. Think of Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol, whose disability exists mostly to inspire generosity. Or Beth in Little Women,...
