My name is Carson Long and I started Writing Theory because I was having so much trouble finding a good resource for learning more about plot, characters, and the theory behind storytelling. I wanted breakdowns of plot creation, frameworks for creating realistic characters, and analysis of other works to understand exactly why successful stories work.
Writing is a passion of mine. I am a professional writer, but not yet a published author. This site also serves as a cataloge of my journey from an aspiring author to a published author.
Whether you write fantasy, romance, nonfiction, or you have yet to understand what kind of story you want to tell; Writing Theory will help your story become the best story possible.
Wait, there are rules to writing?
Yes and no. There are rules to storytelling, but remember:
Rules are made to be broken
That’s right. You learn the rules of storytelling so that you can then understand when to break them! It’s like learning to ride a bike. You don’t start by learning how to pop a sick wheelie. You start by learning with training wheels, then learning to ride normally, and then you can break all the rules and ride on one wheel.
With writing, it pays to learn the rules behind a good story so that you can knowingly break those rules when your story demands it.
Where did you learn all of this?
From literally hundreds of hours of videos and podcasts on storytelling. From dozens of storywriting books that I use as reference material when considering a story. And from dozens of other talented authors who want to share their knowledge. This website was born out of a need to distill hundreds of hours of advice and content into the purest form of writing advice.