Write With Ozzy

Category: Writing

  • Keep Your Promises

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    by

    Ozzy
    in

    It’s your job to make sure the story you’re telling is the story you promised.

  • You Don’t Find Your Voice, You Build It

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    by

    Ozzy
    in ,

    Writers talk a lot about “finding your voice,” like it’s some lost object waiting under the couch cushions. As if one day you’ll stumble across it fully formed—Ah, there it is! My voice!—and from then on, the words will flow perfectly. It doesn’t work like that. Your voice isn’t something you find. It’s something you build.

  • No One Will Love Your Book Like You Do

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    by

    Ozzy
    in ,

    Readers can care deeply about your story. They can love it, be moved by it, recommend it to friends, reread it a dozen times. But their relationship will always be different from yours. For them, it’s a story. For you, it’s part of your life.

  • How Do I… (You Do The Work)

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    Ozzy
    in ,

    A lot of writers get stuck waiting for someone to give them the right tip, the perfect answer that will fix their story instantly. That doesn’t exist.

  • Your Work Should Stand By Itself

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    by

    Ozzy
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    If you need to explain your story after people read it, something’s not right. There’s work still to be done. That’s a harsh truth, but it’s one worth facing.

  • Your Two Whys

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    by

    Ozzy
    in

    Everything in your story has two Whys: Why does this happen in the story? Why did you, the writer, add it to the story?

  • Involve (all) the Senses

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    Ozzy
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    Your readers live in their bodies, just like your characters do. If you want your story to feel real, you need to give us more than just what we can see. The creak of floorboards. The prickle of sweat. The tang of salt in the air. The feel of fabric under fingertips. The stinging burn…

  • The Confidence Game

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    by

    Ozzy
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    There’s a tricky balance we all face as writers: the tension between self-belief and the desire for validation. At its best, writing is an act of confidence—saying, this matters enough to write down. That confidence is fragile and can crack early, especially if you share too soon or ask for opinions before you’ve even figured…

  • How Do I…

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    by

    Ozzy
    in ,

    I’ve seen a lot of “How do I…” questions lately. “How do I make this feel more emotional?” “How do I write a compelling villain?” “How do I make my prose less clunky?” “How do I fix the pacing in my middle chapters?” And the truth is—none of these have a one-line answer. Not really.…

  • Inversion

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    by

    Ozzy
    in

    Empathy is about stepping into someone else’s shoes. Inversion is about reversing the whole damn frame. Not just, “What is this character feeling?” But: “What if they’re right, and my protagonist is wrong?” “What if this story goes the other way?” It’s a question I ask myself all the time. Inversion is one of the sharpest…