Andréa Fehsenfeld's Blog

                  We Love Ripped from the Headlines Stories for these Three Reasons! Some stories feel so strange, so outrageous, so perfectly dramatic that you couldn’t possibly make them up… except, of course, someone already did. We just call them headlines. “Ripped from the headlines” stories aren’t new—Shakespeare ...

The post Why I’m OBSESSED with these stories… appeared first on Andréa Fehsenfeld.

The secret to a purposeful life? Discover your IKIGAI                 I stumbled onto the word Ikigai about a year ago. At that point, I was twelve months into a major transformation of work and self. Understanding and embracing this concept was a game-changer. It helped me understand why ...

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  The High-Stakes (and misunderstood) World of Shamans Deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, the Siberian tundra, and the sacred lands of North America, Indigenous shamans walk the fine line between the physical and the spiritual, the seen and the unseen. Their world is one of immense responsibility, where healing, divination, and spiritual ...

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                  For creative minds, the world isn’t to be lived in—it’s a playground ripe to disrupt and reinvent; a petri dish brimming with inspirational soup. And the mindset that accompanies creativity eschews the baseline for normalcy. Instead, the questions become: Why not turn it upside down to ...

The post Creative People – How Are We Different? appeared first on Andréa Fehsenfeld.

                Give me discipline or give me death. In the world of writing, talent alone isn’t enough. You might write the most beautiful prose but if it takes you fifteen years to finish a novel… Success my friends, comes from discipline. And that means setting aside dedicated time, ...

The post The D word: Discipline! appeared first on Andréa Fehsenfeld.

                Give me discipline or give me death. In the world of writing, talent alone isn’t enough. If you write the most beautiful prose but if it takes you fifteen years to finish a novel… Success my friends, comes from discipline. And that means setting aside dedicated time, ...

The post The Writer’s Essential Toolkit: Discipline! appeared first on Andréa Fehsenfeld.

                    Did someone say juicy plots, moral ambiguity, and complex characters? I’m in! And in the immortal words of Lizzo, It’s About Damn Time! My long-awaited third novel dips a toe into the fascinating genre of neo-noir and I’m getting all the feels! The question of ...

The post The Allure of Neo Noir – move over bad guys, the bad-ass ladies are here! appeared first on Andréa Fehsenfeld.

                  The Art of Setting: The Importance of Location in Fiction Writing. In the world of fiction, a well-crafted story is like a tapestry woven together with various elements, and one of the most crucial threads in this tapestry is the setting or location. Whether it’s the ...

The post The Art of Setting – The Importance of location in Fiction Writing first appeared on Andréa Fehsenfeld.

The post The Art of Setting – The Importance of location in Fiction Writing appeared first on Andréa Fehsenfeld.

      One of the hardest and most satisfying tasks for an author is to create a plot twist that no reader can predict. Avid readers can identify mild twists well in advance, but an expertly crafted one catches the pros off guard! As much as my stories are character-driven, I LOVE plot twists. ...

The post Plot twists – Crafting the unexpected. first appeared on Andréa Fehsenfeld.

The post Plot twists – Crafting the unexpected. appeared first on Andréa Fehsenfeld.

          Why do actors ask, “What’s my motivation?” IT’S ALL ABOUT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Character development is a crucial aspect of any story or narrative. It refers to the process by which a character grows and changes throughout the course of the story. Well-developed characters can make a story more engaging, and ...

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