Stephanie Dethlefs - Writer + Book Coach
  • HOME
  • SERVICES
  • BLOG
  • WRITING
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
Select Page

Help Your Reader Care

by Stephanie Dethlefs | Sep 13, 2022 | Audience, Character Development, Planning your book, writing craft

Who is your main character? More importantly, why are they making the decisions they’re making in the story? If you want your reader to care about what happens next, the best way is to answer these three essential questions about your protagonist. You can’t guarantee...

Your Protagonist’s Arc of Change

by Stephanie Dethlefs | Jul 5, 2022 | Audience, Character Development, First Draft, Planning your book, Revision

Your protagonist is not just bouncing from one event to another. They are changing as a result of those events. In this episode, we dig into your protagonist’s arc of emotional change, both why it matters and how to establish it. Text version: Hello writers! Here is...

Writing Secondary Characters

by Stephanie Dethlefs | May 3, 2022 | Character Development, First Draft, Planning your book, writing craft, Writing middle grade, Writing schedule, Writing YA

While secondary characters might seem less important than your protagonist, they actually serve a very important purpose. They drive the story forward and give the protagonist context, relationships, roadblocks, relief, and more. In this episode, we look at the role...

How to Write Believable Characters

by Stephanie Dethlefs | Apr 19, 2022 | Character Development, First Draft, Planning your book, Uncategorized

How do we create primary characters that are nuanced and complex without being stereotypical, flat, or strange caricatures of themselves? The key is to know them. Like, really know them. And it’s more than knowing things like their favorite sandwich or where they grew...

Your Character’s Motivation

by Stephanie Dethlefs | Dec 14, 2021 | Character Development, First Draft, Planning your book, Revision, writing craft

Why do your protagonist and other characters make the decisions that they do in your story? How do you keep those decisions from running away with your plot? Whether we’re talking the big decisions, those actions that change the course of the story, and the...

Latest Blog Topics

  • Accountability (25)
  • Audience (5)
  • Book Coaching (12)
  • Character Development (5)
  • First Draft (28)
  • Getting feedback (9)
  • How to write a novel (7)
  • Inner critic (19)
  • Mindset (33)
  • Planning your book (35)
  • Plot development (2)
  • Reading for Writers (5)
  • Revision (27)
  • Uncategorized (3)
  • writing craft (38)
  • Writing for Young Readers (1)
  • writing life (26)
  • Writing middle grade (3)
  • Writing schedule (9)
  • Writing YA (3)

It’s time. Your story is waiting.

stephanie dethlefs book writing coach

©2021 Stephanie Dethlefs – Hello Writers

About Stephanie
Book Coaching Services
Unstick Your Story!
Book Coaching 101
Podcast + Blog
Contact
 

Loading Comments...