Movies About Writing

Posted on October 24, 2026 by Lindsey Hughes

We spend our days plotting murders, planting clues, and torturing characters, and yet the hardest scene to stage is the one where a writer just sits there writing. Nothing blows up. Nobody gets shot. It all happens inside our heads. That’s why so few movies are really about writing, even though plenty of them have a writer in the lead. Here are my favorites, the ones that capture what it feels like to drag a story out of your head and onto the page. (Mystery fans, there’s even a gangster and an Agatha Christie whodunit in the mix.)

Bullets Over Broadway (1994), comedy written by Woody Allen. A young playwright (John Cusack) wants to make deep Art and doesn’t care whether audiences are entertained. His play’s backer is a gangster who insists his mistress gets a part, so the playwright has to compromise to get the show made. Meanwhile the gangster’s henchman (Chazz Palminteri) turns out to have a real flair for story. He starts making suggestions, proves to be the true talent, and is willing to kill a bad actress to save “his” play. Two creative truths here: writers can be pretentious and untalented, and good ideas can come from anyone.

See How They Run (2022), comedic mystery written by Mark Chappell. A fictional murder mystery set around Agatha Christie’s real play The Mousetrap, full of the drama of turning a hit play into a movie, including the writer battling the director over the script. Better still, the mystery is packed with Christie tropes that echo the play. Fun fact: The Mousetrap has run continuously in London’s West End since 1953, apart from the lockdowns.

Wonder Boys (2000), comedy written by Steve Kloves from Michael Chabon’s novel. Once-promising novelist Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) doesn’t do much writing on screen, but he nails the mania of trying to live up to your own book, and the fear of being eclipsed by a younger, more talented writer.

Shakespeare in Love (1998), comedy written by Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard. Shakespeare falls for Viola, who is disguised as a man so she can act. The romance inspires him to rework his latest play into Romeo & Juliet. It’s a delight to watch this made-up origin story for one of his most famous works.

Sweet Liberty (1986), comedy written by Alan Alda. An author (Alda) watches his nonfiction book get turned into a movie, and the Hollywood folks change it left and right. He fights to protect his book while trying to make the screenplay good. An overlooked gem, with great turns from Michael Caine and Michelle Pfeiffer as temperamental movie stars.

Adaptation (2002), black comedy written by Charlie Kaufman. Kaufman struggled so much to turn The Orchid Thief into a movie that he wrote the screenplay about his struggle. It perfectly captures the agony of not being able to crack a story while everyone around you seems to be sailing along.

The Muse (1999), comedy written by Albert Brooks & Monica Johnson. A blocked screenwriter (Brooks) hires a kooky professional muse (Sharon Stone). She may be crazy, but there’s method in her madness. She helps him find a new idea and gives his wife the confidence to start a business. If only we could all have a muse on call.

Sunset Boulevard (1950), film noir written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett & D.M. Marshman Jr. A desperate, broke screenwriter meets a desperate, unhinged movie star, while a sweet assistant writes her first screenplay. Sometimes being a writer is deadly.

Stranger Than Fiction (2006), comedy written by Zach Helm. IRS agent Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) suddenly hears narration and realizes he’s a character in someone’s novel. What happens when he tries to break out of the plot and falls in love?

Authors Anonymous (2014), comedy written by David Congalton. A group of dysfunctional, unpublished writers welcomes inexperienced Hannah (Kaley Cuoco) into their writers’ group, and they never see her overnight success coming. A comedy about competition and creativity.

Something’s Gotta Give (2003), romantic comedy written by Nancy Meyers. Diane Keaton plays a playwright who turns the heartbreak of falling for her daughter’s boyfriend, a man her own age, into her next hit play. The scenes of her sobbing as she types are hysterical and relatable.

Paris When It Sizzles (1964), comedy written by George Axelrod. Honestly, it’s a mediocre movie. The fun is watching secretary Audrey Hepburn act out each of screenwriter William Holden’s scenarios as he tries to figure out what kind of movie to write.

Bonus: The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), romance written by Woody Allen. It isn’t about writing but about the fantasy of living inside your favorite movie. Downtrodden Depression-era waitress Mia Farrow’s life is turned upside down when the romantic lead of her favorite film steps off the screen.

So, TKZers: what does it say about the writing life that nearly all of these are comedies? And where are the great thrillers about writers? Tell me in the comments which writing movie I left off the list.

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Procrastination can be good!

Posted on October 10, 2026 by Lindsey Hughes

"You call it procrastination, I call it thinking." Aaron Sorkin thepitchmaster.com

Creative people are known procrastinators. We will spend three hours on the Internet researching, walk the dog, and organize our desk drawer all before we start working. Interestingly, that procrastination often serves a purpose. While we are doing other things, our brains are working on our creative problems. So when we finally sit down to work, the solutions appear like magic. This process is called creative procrastination.

The Shower Principle

Activities where you can let your mind wander like driving, walking, or showing work best. So many people get ideas when they take a shower that it is a real psychological phenomenon called the shower principle. Scott Barry Kaufman, a cognitive scientist and coauthor of Wired to Create, did a study that showed 72% of people get creative ideas in the shower. I know one writer who keeps a white board marker in his shower so that he can jot his ideas on the tile. Another writer friend of mine made a sale pitching over the phone an idea straight from the shower with soap still in his hair. For me, I get my ideas walking my dog or in the shower. Bestselling novelist Tess Gerritsen goes for a long boring drive whenever she gets stuck in a story. (She calls being stuck plot blocked, which is my new favorite story term.)

When you are stuck on a creative problem, the best thing to do is to get up from your computer. By focusing on something else you let your subconscious mind work on the problem. This is often when our greatest ideas come to us.

You call it procrastination. I call it thinking. – Aaron Sorkin

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright dodged a client for nine months, until the man drove 140 miles to confront him about his missed deadlines. Knowing his patron was on his way, Wright sketched his masterpiece Fallingwater in two hours.

Sleep On It

Just like mindless tasks help your unconscious brain solve problems, sleep can do the same thing. The phrase let’s sleep on it, exists for a reason; it really works. Thomas Edison was a famous napper. He would often take a nap during the day and wake up with a solution for whatever project he was working on. Early on in my career, I figured out that this is one of the ways my creative brain likes to solve problems. When I am reacting to written material, I read it once, make notes, sleep on it, and come up with more solutions. In fact, I ask my clients to turn in their projects for feedback 48 hours in advance of our meetings so that I can sleep on it.

A Caveat

Both the shower principal and sleeping on it only work if you have given some conscious thought and conscious work to your project. You need to have wrestled with the problem a bit before you disconnect. In other words, you have given your unconscious brain direction about what to think about when you’re not thinking about it. If I am really struggling with a story problem, I will tell myself to think about it right before I go to sleep. I almost always wake up with a solution.

Non-procrastination

Ironically, not practicing creative procrastination can be a problem. People that compulsively finish things early are called precrastinators. And while being organized is wonderful, never allowing things to percolate means you’re missing a big step of the creative process. I encourage you when you finish projects, whether you are a precrastinator or a procrastinator, to let them lie fallow. Put them in a drawer for a little while and come back and look at them with fresh eyes. If you can take a couple of weeks, that’s ideal. But even a couple of hours can be helpful. It’s just another way to let your unconscious brain work its magic.

What is your favorite way to creatively procrastinate?

Dive Deeper

Wired to Create by Scott Barry

Precrastination and the Science of Doing Too Much, Psychology Today

The Creative Power of Procrastination, Tiago Forte

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Is Failure Normal in a Creative Career? Martin Short Says Yes

Posted on September 26, 2026 by Lindsey Hughes

A creative career is a marathon, not a sprint. thepitchmaster.com

I just watched the Martin Short documentary on Netflix, and he said two life changing things for all creatives. The first:

“My career has been 80% failure.”

This is a man whose résumé includes SCTV, Saturday Night Live, Three Amigos, Father of the Bride, Broadway shows, Jiminy Glick, and Only Murders in the Building.

And he thinks his career is 80% failure.

Let’s Reframe How we Think About Success

Using Short’s perspective we calculate creative success completely backward. From the outside, we see Martin Short’s career as a highlight reel. But Short lived all the parts that don’t make the retrospective. The jobs he didn’t get. The shows that were canceled. The ideas that went nowhere.

That is an entirely different way of looking at a creative career. Most of us secretly think success means gradually eliminating failure.

We think a career trajectory looks like this:

Beginner: Lots of failure.
Intermediate: Less failure.
Professional: Very little failure.

The Goal Isn’t to Stop Failing; It’s to Keep Trying

My other favorite quote in the documentary is:

“Show business is talent, luck, and endurance.”

Endurance is the most underrated ingredient of a creative career.

We spend an enormous amount of time talking about talent. But to be successful, you must continually try and create. A creative career is a marathon, not a sprint.

It means:

You write another story after the story nobody bought.
You send another query after the rejection.
You rewrite the screenplay after the notes that tear it apart.
You pitch again.

You keep going long enough for talent and luck to have another chance to bump into each other.

Confidence Doesn’t Mean Thinking You’ll Succeed

Short connects endurance to confidence.

We think confidence comes from success. But that’s a pretty fragile form of confidence, because sometimes the thing isn’t good. Sometimes it is good and nobody wants it. Sometimes you are good and you still don’t get the job. Short’s version of confidence is much sturdier. It is being willing to fail.

Creative confidence becomes: I can survive if this doesn’t work.

That is a much more useful superpower.

If your confidence requires every project to validate you, every rejection becomes catastrophic. If your confidence says, I may fail and I’m going to keep creating anyway, rejection loses some of its teeth.

In Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Amy says,

“I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.”

With an attitude of learning, failure means moving forward.

The 80% Rule Changes What Failure Means

If Martin Short can call 80% of his career failure, then failure is not evidence that a creative career isn’t working. Maybe failure is part of what a working creative career looks like.

That doesn’t mean every rejection should be ignored. Failure gives us information. Sometimes the script really does need another draft. Sometimes the concept isn’t strong enough. Sometimes we’ve been pitching the wrong people. We learn. We adjust. We get better.

But there’s a dangerous equation creative people make all the time:

This failed = I am failing.

Those are not the same thing. Martin Short’s career makes that distinction gloriously clear. Individual things can fail inside an enormously successful creative life.

Your Career Is Not One Roll of the Dice

We tend to put enormous pressure on whatever we’re making right now. This book has to work. This screenplay has to sell. This pitch has to land.

But a creative career isn’t one roll of the dice. It’s hundreds of rolls. Some become projects. Some become contacts. Some teach you something. Some introduce you to collaborators. Some lead sideways into opportunities you never predicted. Some die magnificently on the runway. And occasionally one takes off. Then you build the next runway.

We Need Better Creative Math

Instead of asking: Did this succeed?

Ask:

Did I learn something?
Did I get better?
Did I put it into the world?
Did I keep going afterward?

Next time something doesn’t work out the way you wanted, take a breath, smile, and keep creating

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Sell Your Book to Hollywood: How to Pitch Your Book, Find the Right Producer, and Navigate the Deal by Lindsey Hughes

Selling Your Books at Live Events

Posted on August 1, 2026 by Lindsey Hughes

Live events put you and your stories in the same room as actual humans—humans who can see your covers, hear talk about your book, and feel that spark that made you write it in the first place. That proximity changes everything. You’re not battling algorithms or waiting for an email open; you’re creating a moment of connection. And connection sells.

Financially, it’s also where your margins flex. When you sell direct, you skip retailer cuts and keep the delightfully fat slice.

Here are a couple ways to make more money with your sales:

Use round, tax-included pricing (hello, $20) to make checkout brainless.
Use bundles. — Book 1 + Book 2, the whole series or a book + workbook.

Remember, you’re not a discount bin; you’re an artisan shop. People will be excited to meet and support the author.

Let Your Table Do the Talking

A good table is a quiet salesperson: it invites, explains, and excites before you even open your mouth. Have a pretty tablecloth in a branded color with your author tagline on it. Consider having banner with a scene from your books. Scene art not only makes your booth stand out, it draws target readers. If you are into dragons, and you see a dragon, you are already interested. Another way to target readers is to have signs with your genre and tropes. If you’ve got room, a simple black backdrop pushes visual focus to your covers (and hides whatever chaos lurks behind you).

Make it easy to catch readers’ eyes by elevating your books to eye level with risers or bookshelves. Stand your books up with the covers facing out. Your cover is your best advertisement! Bring more books than you plan to sell. You want to look prosperous, not sad. Place a big, friendly price signs where eyes naturally land and keep your bundles front and center. Sprinkle in a little on-brand swag (a bookmark with a review QR, a recipe or world-building card) that feels like a keepsake, not landfill.

Where the Buyers Are

Start big, then get clever.

Book fairs, signing events, expos, and genre conventions put you in front of motivated readers who came to buy books (bless them). These shows offer concentrated foot traffic, panel opportunities, and the chance to meet librarians, booksellers, and influencers—the kind of contacts that turn one weekend into a year of momentum. Genre-specific cons (romance, SFF, mystery) are especially powerful because the audience is pre-sorted to love what you write.

Non-book events like farmers markets, craft fairs, and art walks are great for authors. Being the only book seller in a sea of candles and sourdough attracts readers. The vibe is “support a maker,” which maps beautifully to “support an author.”

Homeschool gatherings and education-focused events can be gold mines for bulk sales and long-tail relationships. Parents and co-op leaders are actively hunting for quality reading, curriculum tie-ins, and author visits. Bring classroom sets pricing, unit-study guides, and a simple order form—make it easy to say yes for a whole group.

Think outside the box and follow your themes: a cat expo for cozy mysteries with feline sidekicks, a Renaissance fair for fantasy and historical adventures, or a culturally specific celebration like Jewish Joy Con if your stories and community align. When your setting, characters, and values match the event’s heart, conversion jumps because readers feel connected to your stories.

Finally, network like a pro. Trade cards with nearby authors and vendors, learn what they sell, and be ready to recommend them when your books aren’t the right fit (and ask them to do the same for you). A generous table neighbor is remembered, referred, and often invited back.

Keep Reading

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Use the Rule of Three to Triple the Impact

Posted on July 18, 2026 by Lindsey Hughes

The Rule of Three is a storytelling technique that makes writing more engaging, memorable, and impactful. (See! I used three adjectives.) It works because three is the perfect balance. One feels incomplete, two feels like a coincidence, but three? Three is a pattern, a rhythm, a satisfying payoff. Why does this work? Because humans are wired for patterns, and three is the smallest number that creates a full-fledged pattern. It builds expectation and then delivers on it.

Let’s dive into the Rule of Three and how you can use it in your writing.

The Power of Three in Story Structure

For screenwriters and novelists, the classic three-act structure (Beginning, Middle, End) is the foundation of storytelling. Act One sets up the world and problem. Act Two complicates everything. Act Three delivers the resolution. It’s storytelling in three neat parts.

💡 Try this: When structuring your story, think in threes. Give your protagonist three major obstacles to overcome. Have their character arc evolve in three key moments. Use three emotional beats to deliver that gut-punch ending.

The Power of Three Protagonists

Storytelling loves a good trio. Three examples:

Harry, Ron, and Hermione – Harry Potter Series
Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo – Star Wars Original Trilogy
The Three Musketeers: Athos, Porthos, and Aramis – The Three Musketeers
Buffy, Willow, and Xander – Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy – Star Trek: The Original Series
Alvin, Simon, and Theodore – Alvin and the Chipmunks
The Powerpuff Girls: Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup – The Powerpuff Girls
Charlie’s Angels: Sabrina, Jill, and Kelly – Charlie’s Angels
The Three Stooges: Moe, Larry, and Curly – The Three Stooges
Jerry, Elaine, and George – Seinfeld
The Three Bears – Fairy Tale
The Three Little Pigs – Fairy Tale
The Three Wise Men – The Bible

Trilogies

We see the rule of three in the popularity of trilogies. We love a good story with three parts.

The Lord of the Rings

The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Two Towers (2002)
The Return of the King (2003)

2. The Godfather

The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Godfather Part III (1990)

3. The Dark Knight

Batman Begins (2005)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Rule of Three in Comedy

Like we talked about with witty banter, comedy loves the Rule of Three because it sets up an expectation—and then subverts it for laughs. The first two items in a sequence establish a pattern, and the third surprises.

“I came, I saw, I… forgot what I was doing.”
“She’s smart, she’s charming, and she once tried to order a taco at a bank drive-thru.”
“For our picnic, we packed sandwiches, fruit, and a live chicken.”

Think about classic comedic sequences: a character tries to do something and fails twice before succeeding—or failing spectacularly. It’s why slapstick works in three beats. The first two build anticipation; the third flips it on its head.

💡 Try this: If you’re writing humor, use a list of three with a twist on the third. Play with expectations and reversals to keep your readers laughing.

The Rule of Three in Dialogue

Ever notice how the best lines in movies and books often come in threes? It creates a rhythm that sticks in the audience’s mind.

Jaws: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” (Three parts: You’re gonna / need / a bigger boat.)
Julius Caesar: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
The Dark Knight: “Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

The Rule of Three in Description

In description, three is the magic number:

“Her dress was red, flowing, and impossible to ignore.”
“He had a voice like gravel, whiskey, and bad decisions.”
“The house was rambling, ramshackle, and ivy-covered.”

The Rule of Three in Pacing & Repetition

Repetition is powerful. It’s why speeches, slogans, and mantras use three.

“Location, location, location.”
“Stop, drop, and roll.”
“Blood, sweat, and tears.”

💡 Try this: When writing dialogue or descriptions, test out the Rule of Three. It adds balance, impact, and memorability.

Triple Your Writing Power

The Rule of Three isn’t just a gimmick—it’s a time-tested technique that makes stories more compelling, humor funnier, and messages more memorable. So next time you’re stuck, ask yourself: Can I use the Rule of Three in this moment?

Now go forth and write in threes—because one isn’t enough, two is close, but three? Three is just right.

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The Declaration of Independence: A Master Class in Writing

Posted on July 4, 2026 by Lindsey Hughes

The Declaration of Independence.

Happy 250th Birthday, America!

Today we celebrate a country that was born from one of the most brilliantly crafted pieces of writing in human history. Thomas Jefferson wrote a document that changed the world. Just like screenwriters and novelists, he did it with structure, pacing, and an unforgettable ending.

Jefferson Built a Case

The Declaration does not open with the conclusion. Jefferson does not lead with “We’re breaking up with Britain.” He builds to it.

He opens with a statement of universal principles. All men are created equal. People have rights. Governments exist to protect those rights. When they don’t, the people can change them.

Then he presents the evidence. Twenty-seven specific grievances against King George. A relentless accumulation of wrongs. Taxation without representation. Soldiers quartered in private homes. Courts rigged against colonists. Each charge adds weight to the next.

Jefferson never tells you King George is evil. By the time Jefferson is finished, George III is not just a bad king; he is a tyrant without mercy.

The 27 Grievances: How to Build a Villain Through Accumulation

The structure of the grievances section is a masterclass in escalation, tension, and pacing.

Jefferson does not open with the worst charges. He starts with the administrative, the political, the procedural. The King has refused to sign laws. The King has dissolved legislatures. The King has obstructed justice. These are serious, but they are the acts of a bad bureaucrat, not necessarily a monster.

Then the charges begin to darken.

The King has sent swarms of officers to harass the people. He has kept standing armies among them in peacetime without consent. He has made the military superior to civilian authority. We are moving from political obstruction into something that feels more like occupation.

Then it gets worse.

He has waged war against his own people. He has plundered their seas and burned their towns. By the time you reach the final grievances, the King is not a distant bureaucrat making bad decisions. He is a warlord burning down the homes of his own subjects.

The Declaration is a 1,320-word novel where the villain is King George and the twist ending is America.

Powerful, Unforgettable Ending

The Declaration builds to a clear, decisive conclusion. The colonies are free and independent states. The political bands are dissolved. And the signers pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

The Declaration ends with one of the most extraordinary sentences in history.

“We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

By signing this document, the men of the Continental Congresst were committing treason against the most powerful empire on earth. The penalty was death.

It is one of the most powerful endings in the history of the written word.

Remember

Two hundred and fifty years ago a writer sat down and crafted a document that changed history. The Founding Fathers understood that the right words, in the right order, with the right structure, could move people to action. Stories matter. Words are powerful!

Happy Independence Day. Now go write something that changes someone’s world.

Patriotic Fun

School House Rock on The Declaration of Independence

National Treasure (2004, Disney+) – a rag tag trio of history treasure hunters race an evil organization to find the treasure to follow the secret map on the back of the Declaration of Independence.

1776 (1972, Tubi or for rent on Prime Video) – a witty musical about the Founding Fathers.

Revolutionary Dramas

Movies:

A Great Awakening (2026, Prime Video) An unlikely friendship between fiery preacher George Whitefield and skeptic Benjamin Franklin sparks a spiritual revival that awakens the ideals of liberty and ignites the American Revolution.

The Patriot (2000) A family’s experience during the Revolutionary War when a father and the oldest son join the fight.

TV Series:

The American Revolution (2025, PBS) Ken Burns documentary about the American Revolution.

John Adams (2008, HBO+) Paul Giamatti as John Adams with Laura Linney as Abigail. It covers the lead up to independence, the war, and its aftermath.

Turn: Washington’s Spies (2014-2017, AMC+), a gripping spy thriller following the Culpeper ring, George Washington’s spy network.

The Crossing (2000) Prime Video – The Story of the Washington leading the troops across the Delaware River and the Battle of Trenton.

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Character Arc Secrets: The Four Beat Formula

Posted on June 20, 2026 by Lindsey Hughes

Character Arc Structure: 1. Act 1 through Act 2a: Living the Lie. Mid-Point Illumination and Commitment. 2. Act 2b: Trial by Fire. Skill, Courage, Consistency. 3. Act 3: Proof Under Maximum Pressure. thepitchmaster.com

If your story’s middle sometimes feels like a long, suspiciously quiet hallway…good news: the midpoint is where the lights flip on and the music changes. This is the hinge that turns a character’s inner journey from their Lie to the Truth, and it fuels the entire back half of your plot.

Characters have three things pushing them through the story:

The lie they believe about themselves or the world.
What they want. Their want is often a plot goal like money or power.
Their true want. What they need to be the best version of themselves or.

All three things make up their character arc.

But the midpoint is where your protagonist moves from operating from his lie to his true want. He thinks and acts differently from that point. This midpoint shift can be confusing because it sounds like the character arc is finished halfway through the story.

The midpoint isn’t the end of the character arc—it’s the turning of the arc. Before midpoint, your protagonist is run by his lie. At the midpoint, something forces a reframe. He glimpses his true want and pivots his intentions and strategy. But knowing his truth and living it under pressure are not the same thing.

Think of the character arc in four beats:

Acts 1 → Act 2A: Living the Lie. They chase goals with lie-based tactics. These work short-term but generate deeper costs.

Midpoint: Illumination & Commitment. A revelation/defeat/victory reframes reality. The hero consciously commits to a new approach that aligns with his true want. This is the cognitive and directional switch: new plan, new tactics, new why.

Act 2B: Trial by Fire (Skill, Courage, Consistency). The world now tests that commitment. The hero practices what he needs but doesn’t stay there. He wins some, backslides some, and pays rising costs. Enemies adapt. Consequences tighten.

Act 3: Proof under Maximum Pressure. After the Dark Night of the Soul, the hero must operate from what he needs when it’s hardest. The climactic choice is the final exam: no help, no safety net, high stakes. Here is the arc complete.

So: midpoint = conversion; climax = consecration. Midpoint says, “I know what I need; I’ll act on it.” Climax says, “I’ll pay the price to become the best version of myself.”

Why Have the Turn at the Midpoint?

Story fuel: A mid-story pivot prevents the saggy middle. The protagonist shifts from reactive to proactive with a new plan, which launches fresh complications.

Meaningful escalation: If the hero didn’t change until the end, the climax would be a speech, not a decision. The midpoint gives time to test, fail, adapt, so the finale feels earned.

How it Plays

Romance: Midpoint: one lover risks honest vulnerability (her need), leading to deeper connection and scarier stakes. Act 2B tests that honesty. All is Lost beat tempts a retreat to self-protection (lie). Climax: they choose openness even when it could cost the relationship.

Thriller: Midpoint: hero rejects “ends justify the means,” and switches to a lawful strategy. Act 2B: slower, riskier progress; allies doubt; villain presses. Climax: hero refuses the illegal shortcut that would guarantee victory—and still wins because others now trust/help.

Diagnosis Your Midpoint

Make sure the scene delivers these five functions:

1. Revelation: New information reframes the core conflict.

2. Intention flip: The protagonist makes a clear choice to pursue a Truth-aligned plan.

3. Strategy change: Tactics visibly change (different allies, methods, rules).

4. Stakes reset: Costs and consequences increase because the Truth is harder.

5. Point-of-no-return: The new course ends the old one.

And for Act 2B (after the midpoint)

Aim for: practice → pushback → price.

Practice: shows competence growing, not perfected.
Pushback: antagonistic forces adapt; the world hits harder.
Price: the want demands sacrifice (time, status, safety, love).

Common pitfalls

Premature perfection: If the hero stops struggling after the midpoint, the arc feels finished. Keep the cost of living the truth rising.
Vague pivot: If the new plan isn’t concrete, the audience won’t feel the turn. Put the change onstage.
External-only change: Tie each plot beat to belief consequences. Otherwise, the midpoint reads like a plot twist, not an inner turn.

Worksheet

Midpoint event: What fact or loss makes the lie untenable?
Midpoint vow (one sentence of dialogue or thought): “From now on, I’ll ______.” You don’t have to have the character say their vow, which can sound on the nose. Instead, make sure the shift is obvious in the way your character speaks and acts.
New tactics: List 2–3 Truth-aligned actions the hero tries next.
Backslide temptations: Name 2 moments that lure them back to the Lie.
Climactic proof: What single risk would only make sense if they fully believe the Truth?

Wrap Up

Give your protagonist the mid-book “aha,” then make them earn it—one tested choice at a time. When the climax arrives, their final decision won’t just sound true; it will prove who they’ve become under pressure. That’s how you banish the saggy middle and deliver a finale that lands with heart, heat, and holy-cow satisfaction.

Dive Deeper

How to Build Better Characters: Start with Their Biggest Lie

Secrets of Story Structure: Third Act Structure

Why You Should Write at the Car Wash

Posted on June 6, 2026 by Lindsey Hughes

A car between two giant spinning brushes and a car wash

A couple of days ago I went to the car wash. To pass the time, I brought a hard copy of my latest project, which I was hand editing. I was there for an hour and was insanely productive. With the comfortable chair and their rocking soundtrack that was a mix of classic country, 70s rock, and 90s alternative, it was a magical creative experience.

It reminded me of a story from a few years ago about novelist Amy Daws who cured her writer’s block by writing in the waiting room of her local tire store. She became the unofficial mascot of the store with her own reserved seat. And she wrote a book, Wait With Me, about a writer who likes to write in the waiting room of a tire store and finds love there.

My time at the car wash prompted a creative habit I had forgotten. I like writing with noise. . Keep a list of habits that work for you so when your life changes, you don’t forget. It’s also good to have creative habits in rotation. When you get tired of sitting at your desk, go to the car wash.

Sometimes when you are searching for inspiration, try changing location.

Have you ever wondered why so many people like to write at coffee shops? There is actually science behind it. There is a noise sweet spot between too loud to be distracting and just loud enough to help you focus. Having noise that your brain has to work to block out actually makes you more creative.

There’s even an app called Coffitivity that mimics the noise of a coffee shop. I used it when I had to write at an office job that was library level quiet.

Some people use music as their ambient noise. Lots of writers like to have playlists for each project that evoke the mood and the theme of the story they’re working on.

What is your favorite kind of noise to work with?

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How to Spot and Plug Plot Holes

Posted on May 23, 2026 by Lindsey Hughes

Caution! Plot holes!

Nothing yanks me out of a story faster than a plot hole. If they’re really stupid, I get mad. And I quit reading or watching. That disconnect doesn’t just “break immersion”, it breaks trust, and it quietly murders your relationship with your reader/viewer.

Plot holes can happen anywhere, but they’re most common in mysteries, thrillers, and action stories, where the engine of the story is cause-and-effect.

At their core, plot holes are logic problems with motives, chronology, and missions.

Motives for Heroes

When readers say, “I don’t buy it,” they’re usually talking about motive.

Does what your hero wants make sense?
Do your hero’s actions make sense and connect with his motive?

Extra Plot-Hole Patrol Tip: Make sure the hero’s motive isn’t just logical, but urgent. If the hero can shrug and go get tacos, your plot is in trouble. Stakes are the duct tape that keeps decisions from wobbling.

Motives for Villains

Villains are plot-hole factories when their plans are vague, inconsistent, or powered by “because the writer needed it.”

Do we understand why he’s doing what he’s doing?
Do we understand what the bad guy’s plan is?

Extra Tip: “I’m evil” is not a plan. Even chaotic villains have an internal logic: a need, a wound, a belief, a fear, or a payoff. If the villain’s motive changes scene to scene, the audience notices.

Chronology

Chronology is where stories accidentally teleport.

Make sure that your characters are doing the things they need to do in the right order. Don’t have them break into the Art Museum before they’ve learned how to disarm the alarm system.

Extra Tip: Time is sneaky. If your story has travel, deadlines, injuries, weather, or “we only have six hours,” do a quick sanity check: How long would this actually take? If your character drives across town in three minutes during rush hour, you will lose your readers.

Missions

This is the “what are we doing and how are we doing it?” category. Mission confusion creates plot holes because the audience can’t track what should logically happen next.

Is your good guys’ plan clear?
What are they going after?
How are they going to do it?
And what do they need to do it?
How are the bad guys going to counter the hero’s actions?
Does the villain have a logical reaction to the hero’s successes?
Does the hero have a logical reaction to the villain’s roadblocks?

Extra Tip: Track resources like a hawk. Weapons, money, passwords, keys, vehicles, evidence, magic rules, phone battery, injury level, allies who know the plan. A shocking number of plot holes are really just “Wait…where did that come from?” problems.

Here are Three Ways to Avoid Logic Breaks

1. The Villain’s Timeline

From The Villain’s Journey by Debbie Burke, even when he is off camera, track what the villain is doing in every scene to stymie the hero.

2. The Villain’s Plan

Create a step-by-step plan for the villain’s goal. Each step should happen in your story, even if some of them are off camera.

Picture the villain with their own off-screen Netflix series running parallel to your story. What scenes are happening that we don’t see? Who are they calling, bribing, stalking, moving, framing, sabotaging?

A helpful test: if you can’t summarize the villain’s plan in 3 to 7 steps, it’s probably not clear enough in your head yet, which means it definitely won’t be clear on the page.

3. The Hero’s Knowledge and Logic Check

Go through each scene and ask: what does the hero know here about what the villain is doing? Based on what he knows, what is his next logical step?

Extra Idea: Do this for the reader, too. What does the reader know at this moment? What are you inviting them to assume? A lot of plot holes are really “the author forgot what they told the audience” holes.

A Few More Plot Hole Plugs

The “Because/Therefore” Chain

For every major beat: this happens because of that, and therefore this next thing happens. If you find yourself writing “and then,” pause. “And then” is where plot holes breed like rabbits.

The Reverse Outline

After you draft, create a scene-by-scene outline of what actually happens. You’ll instantly spot missing steps, logic leaps, and scenes that depend on information nobody has yet.

The Continuity Bible

Especially for series, thrillers, and anything with big conspiracies: keep a simple master doc for names, dates, rules, injuries, secrets, locations, and “who knows what when.”

Eyes on the Story

And finally, the best defense against plot holes and logic problems is another pair of eyes. Have trusted writer friends, story coaches, and editors read your book or script and give you feedback. Ask your readers to track your plot and make sure it makes sense.

Because here’s the truth: you can’t always see your own plot holes. You built the whole world. You know what you meant. Your reader only knows what’s on the page, and they will notice when your story skips a beat.

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Your Books Should be in Google Books, the World’s Largest Library

Posted on May 9, 2026 by Lindsey Hughes

The World’s Largest Library Is Hiding in Plain Sight (And Your Books Should Be In It)

Why your books should be in Google Books, the world's largest library

Imagine a library 100 times larger than the Library of Alexandria. A library with millions of books in every language, stretching back centuries. A library where a reader can search almost any topic and instantly discover a book about it. Cool!

That library exists. It’s called Google Books. And if you’re an author , it may be one of the most powerful discoverability and marketing tools you’re not using yet.

What Is the Google Books Library?

Think of Google Books as a massive digital card catalog for the world’s books. When a book is listed there, Google stores key information about it, including:

• title
• author
• publisher
• publication date
• genre
• description
• cover image
• preview pages

Readers can search the library and read a sample of the book directly inside Google.

Here’s what my book looks like on Google Books.

The Game Changer: Google Books also provides this information through a public API, meaning other systems can access it. Which systems love structured book data like this? AI systems.

Large language models frequently use Google Books as a verification source to confirm that a book exists and to gather details about it. In one analysis of AI-generated book recommendations, nearly all the books recommended had entries in Google Books.

In other words, if your book is in the Google Books Library, it becomes part of the knowledge layer of the internet.

Why This Matters for Authors

⭐Google Books is not just a library. It’s a discovery engine.

When your book appears there, it can surface when people search for:

Your name
Genre
Story elements
Tropes
Themes
Topics related to your story

Because the database contains structured metadata, it makes your book easy for search engines and AI systems to understand. For authors thinking about Generative Search Optimization (GSO), this is huge.

⭐Your book becomes searchable. Your story becomes easier to find.

How Your Book Gets Into Google Books

The good news is that many authors are already there without realizing it.

If you publish wide and distribute to Google Play Books, your book is automatically added to the Google Books Library.
Even if your ebook is in Kindle Unlimited and exclusive to Amazon, your print edition may still appear if it is distributed through Amazon expanded distribution or Ingram Spark.
Google often scans print books from library collections and adds them to the database.

To check if your book is listed, simply search inside Google Books for your book title, name, and ISBN.

What If Your Book Isn’t There?

No problem. You can add it yourself. You simply create an account with the Google Play Books Partner Center.

From there you can upload your book and choose one of two options:

Sell the ebook on Google Play: Your book becomes available for purchase through Google’s ebook store.
Offer a preview only

If your ebook is exclusive to Kindle Unlimited, you can still upload it and allow readers to see a preview in Google Books and let the AI get to know you without selling the ebook through Google Play.

Typically, about 20% of the book is visible as a preview. That preview alone is enough for Google to index the book’s content and metadata. And that’s where the discoverability magic begins.

The Big Takeaway

If you want your work to be discoverable in the AI-powered search era, you need to think beyond traditional bookstores.

Every writer should ask one simple question:

Is my work in the world’s largest digital library? If the answer is no, upload them stat!

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