: Ground your reader by using the five senses—the smell of rain, the grit of sand, or the sound of a tin clinking on tiles. 3. Drafting Checklist

: Every story needs "Peril" or a hurdle. What does your character want, and what is standing in their way?.

: Don't edit as you go. You can't fix a blank page, but you can fix a "shitty first draft".

The phrase "ass in chair" is a classic writer's mantra—it means the hardest part of drafting a story isn't the ideas, but simply showing up and putting words on the page.

: Plan for the moment of highest tension where the conflict is resolved.