I spent most of 2006 preparing to write a story about an apparently amnesiac young woman who is rescued by three very disparate friends during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Almost from the very beginning, this tale of mistaken identity, murder, and disappearing royalty had me bursting with excitement. I couldn’t wait to begin writing. […]
May 4, 2008 by 27 Comments Beginning Your BookCharacter: The Most Important Part of Your Story’s Beginning
If all of writing was as difficult as the first 50 pages, I probably would have wimped out years ago and found myself a new vocation. (Something easy and safe—like being a Walmart greeter or maybe the collector of the quarters from Laundromat machines.) Despite the fact that I already know every plot turn that […]
April 27, 2008 by 20 Comments Writing LifeIs Art Important to the World?
What is art? Why is this seemingly random act of creation found in every society? Why is it cherished, lauded, idolized? Is art important? For me, as someone who dares claim the lofty title of “artist,” that last question rings the loudest. Why is my writing important? Or perhaps more truthfully phrased: Is it important? […]
April 20, 2008 by 30 Comments Editing Your NovelHow I Edit Fiction
No two writers write in the same way. But even fewer writers edit in the same way. We all wield our red (or blue) pens (or pencils), hacking flabby words and injecting strong verbs and nouns in their places. We all share the end goal of a crisp, clean, beautiful final draft. And we all pull […]
April 13, 2008 by 7 Comments Writing InspirationHow to Write Wildly Original Stories
Ideas swarm from the writer’s brain like bees from a hive. At any given moment, most of us have snippets of inspiration floating around in the netherworld between our conscious and unconscious. Some of those ideas we develop, some we abandon; some will turn out to be gold, some will be trash. We’ll probably never […]
April 6, 2008 by 17 Comments ProseKill the Big, Fat, Ugly Modifier!
Among writers, one of the ever-quotable Mark Twain’s most quoted witticisms is the succinct bit of advice found in Pudd’nhead Wilson: As to the Adjective: When in doubt, strike it out. Ah, adjectives! What writer hasn’t had a joyous fling or two with that most seductive of all parts of speech? In an effort to […]
March 30, 2008 by 25 Comments Writing LifeWhy Writers (Should) Have a God Complex
“You come upon the person the author put there. … beside the small running river where a boy is weeping and no one comes… and you have to watch without saying anything he can hear. …”—Marie Howe Every author is the god of his own little world. No story is the same; each is a […]
March 23, 2008 by 84 Comments Characters100+ Questions to Help You Interview Your Character
How well do you know your characters? Like the back of my hand, you say? Do you know the color of your hero’s eyes? Do you know where the bad guy went to college? Do you know your heroine’s most embarrassing moment? Can you rattle off a list of your main character’s idiosyncrasies? Typical expressions? […]
March 16, 2008 by 29 Comments Writing InspirationConscious vs. Subconscious Creativity: Which Is More Important to an Author?
I’ve always been intrigued by the left-brain/right-brain theory—the idea that creative thought stems from the right hemisphere of the brain, while logical thought flows from the left hemisphere. Growing up, I always considered myself a right-brainer, due to my imaginative ramblings. But, the older I get, the more my left-brain (logical, sequential, rational, analytical, objective) tendencies […]
March 9, 2008 by 24 Comments Writing LifeAre You Emptying Yourself Into Your Writing?
Writing is treacherous business, fraught with fear and doubt on every side. Am I any good? Will I get published? Will I get good reviews? Will I sell any books? But perhaps the most inherent danger of the writing life is the necessary baring of our souls to the world. Writing, at its most basic […]
