Composure

Field Notes

Short, practical essays on story craft. Written by a person.

How to Find the Theme of Your Story

Your novel already has one. Here is how to catch yourself arguing it.

Reverse Outlining: How to Outline a Novel You Already Started

Fifty thousand words in and lost in the middle? Map the book you actually wrote.

Static and Dynamic Characters: The Two Kinds in Every Story

Every character either changes, or changes everyone around them. Treating one kind like the other is where flat characters come from.

What Is a Story Bible? And When Your Novel Needs One

The single source of truth for your fictional world, what goes in it, and the cathedral trap to avoid.

AI for Writers Who Want to Do the Writing

An AI that reads your manuscript instead of writing it, and the two promises that make that trustworthy.

Subscribe to Field Notes, free. Create a Composure account and new essays land in your inbox as they publish. Your account also opens the app itself: a free First Reading of your manuscript and the Explorer tier. Subscribe & get started.
composure.proTry Composure freeTermsPrivacy