Content | AFI

This institute will address the specific needs of today’s novelists, tackling tough questions and offering insightful tips to guide authors toward excellence in their storytelling—and Steven’s frank, unorthodox approach will counter conventional, predictable advice by offering fresh perspectives on writing principles.

And the advice isn’t always what you might expect. For instance:

The disadvantages of “character arcs” and how to overcome them.
What a story really is (it might surprise you!).
The three realms of struggles within a story and what readers expect to happen within each of them.
How to write a scene even when you don’t know where it will lead or what will happen within it.
Causality and how it affects the movement of every action and the progression of every scene, and precipitates every twist.
How scenes work and why you should never include one “just for characterization.”
How to tap into emotion without melodrama or manipulation.
How to know exactly when to summarize a scene and when to render one.
Why character intention matters more than motivation, and how to clarify it in every scene.
The difference between character flaws and character vulnerability—and why including a “fatal flaw” will sabotage the story’s ending.

The centrality of tension, its propulsive force to drive a story forward, and how to enhance it through unmet desire.
How to shape dilemmas that will invite readers to worry about your characters—and when not to do that.
Five ways to make your character immediately come alive to your readers.
Why the advice on including “rising action” is misleading and what to include instead.
Ways to tap into the contingent aspects of fiction to avoid coincidences, chance, and occurrences of deus ex machina.
How to write a better story by starting now, when you don’t yet know the ending.
The six specific things—besides “hooking” readers’ attention—that your opening needs to accomplish, no matter what genre you write in.
The role of reader empathy and why it’s overrated.
Why it’s essential for characters to fail in order for a story to proceed.
The difference between stated and implied narrative promises, why it matters, and when to use each of them.

Why struggles are incubators for growth and why sacrifices that mean nothing to characters mean nothing to readers.
Why tension doesn’t necessarily come from conflict and why you should stop trying to add conflict to your story and focus on tightening tension instead.
What a character’s choices reveal about her—and the three types of desire she might have.
How the three-act paradigm can undermine your story and shackle your characters, and what to focus on instead to shape a powerful, poignant, and resonant story.
Why agenda-driven fiction undermines the pivot and payoff of your story, and what to start with instead of a message.
The evocative dynamic between details and descriptions, and how to leverage them both in your story.
The importance of believability and how to make any event in your story more believable.
Specific tips on creating moral dilemmas that will engage readers, reveal characterization, and add intriguing, unpredictable climaxes.
Why it’s much more important to be able to state your dilemma than your theme.

How to use settings to either inhibit your character’s pursuit or enhance it.
Six ways to figure out who the protagonist is when you have more than one main character.
Why pursuit is more important than plot, and how to use that insight to inform every scene in your manuscript.
How to start scenes, what stalls them out, and what can propel any scene forward.
Why action can undermine tension, and what to do about that.
Character management: when and how to introduce them, how to make them more intriguing—and when you’ll want to avoid that.
A dozen ways to make a villain more formidable (and what to do if he becomes more interesting than your hero).
How to create believable twists that won't feel too contrived, too predictable, or too outlandish.
The disadvantages of critique groups and a dozen ways to make them a more positive experience for everyone if you do join one.
The importance of despair and a “moment at which all seems lost” no matter what genre you’re writing in.
The disadvantages of writing the first draft all the way through before editing it and the reasons you might want to edit as you go instead.
How to identify the five different types of plot flaws and specific ways to fix each of them.
A dozen ways to improve your dialogue and make it more realistic and poignant.
Why conflict does not equal tension, difficulty does not equal dilemma, and structure does not equal story.
The five reasons why readers keep flipping pages (and why you never want to appeal to the last one of them!).
And much, much more…