Ass

: Establish where and when the story takes place early on.

The phrase "ass in chair" is a classic writer's mantra—it means the hardest part of drafting a story isn't the ideas, but simply showing up and putting words on the page.

: Ground your reader by using the five senses—the smell of rain, the grit of sand, or the sound of a tin clinking on tiles. 3. Drafting Checklist