Zainah Yousef

As a fan of science fiction and fantasy, I always love to see books from both genres and even books that combine them. However, there is a big difference between science-fiction and fantasy, and both genres have their own characteristics that make them unique and stand alone. Although they are both part of the umbrella

Fantasy is a large umbrella term that encapsulates several different forms of fantasy, such as grimdark, light fantasy, high fantasy, epic fantasy, and more. I’ve actually discussed what grimdark fantasy is and what high fantasy is compared to low fantasy, and there are some interesting things that differentiate each subgenre. For today’s post, I’ll be

Many books out there are written from a single perspective of a single character, however there are also many stories that explore several other perspectives. This can be done in first or third person POV, which I’ve talked about the difference before on my channel. Providing perspectives of different characters is something that can help

One of the most popular age ranges for books has to be the young adult (YA) range. YA has been growing for quite some time and some of the biggest and best-selling books to come out recently have been written for young adult audiences. Although I’m well past the YA range at this point, I

Foreshadowing is one of the most important tools used by writers in literature to try and create a level of suspense and intrigue in their stories. The idea of foreshadowing is to give hints about things that are to come in the story, building expectations and setting things up. When done properly, it is often

Humor is something I honestly love adding into even the darkest of my stories. I think that in a way, humor is something that we as humans all share a love for. I hope so, at least. Humor can create a sort of break for your readers in stories where things tend to run on

If you want to write a story that is not fully romance, but you still want to include some element of romance in the overall plot, then you’re probably looking to create a romance subplot. There are many books that are mainly fantasy, mainly sci-fi, mainly horror, etc… but still make room in the plot

Many writers nowadays are choosing to create stories centered around a female protagonist, and while some do a great job, others miss the mark in a number of ways. Many times, they create stereotypes rather than strong, compelling female protagonists, which is very disconnecting for readers. Today, I’ll be teaching you how to create a

I know that themes often tend to be one of those things we dread having to analyze in English class, but as writers, themes are actually very helpful to include in our books. Themes add a sort of depth to the story and the overall narrative and helps readers connect with what’s being told to

Research is a very important task that is often honed-in on a lot in English classes, but it is a vital thing to understand for almost every discipline of study out there. Beyond the classroom though, even us writers and authors need to do a lot of research when we’re writing a book. A lot

The idea of myth and mythology has been existent in the human world for centuries, with ancient myths still being told to this very day. I can’t really think of a single person that doesn’t know about Greek or Egyptian mythology and at least some basic knowledge of its stories. Myths are powerful, as they

The plot of your story is essentially the skeleton that you will need to fill in with words. The plot outlines everything major in your story, such as the beginning, the middle, the climax, the end, and the resolution. Creating an interesting and powerful narrative requires that you understand how to plot your story properly,