Hi writing warriors, and welcome back to studying and understanding James Scott Bell’s genius breakdown of a plot’s 14 signpost scenes (as discussed in his craft book Super Structure)! If you recall from my last month’s column—featuring Signpost Scene #10, Mounting Forces—we’ve forged forward into the last act of the story. In other words, it’s… Read more »
Rejection. Nobody likes it—most writers experience it. The rejection tallies of famous books are something of a Holy Grail for writers: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was rejected 14 times Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind was rejected 38 times George Orwell’s Animal Farm was rejected because “It is impossible to sell… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Natasha Scripture. Natasha is an author, poet, humanitarian, and former aid worker. As a spokesperson for the United Nations, she covered humanitarian crises around the world and before the UN she worked for a variety of organizations, including the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera English,… Read more »
In the article before last, I shared the tale of one of the lesser-known Irish mythic figures, Tlachtga. This time around I’m delving into my Finnish heritage for some mythic inspiration. The Kalevala is the national epic poem of Finland, compiled and edited by scholar Elias Lönnrot in its final form in 1849. Professionally, Lönnrot… Read more »
One piece of platforming advice I feel strongly about is that every author should have a newsletter. And yes, this is still true even if you are not yet published! I cannot say this enough. Any author who wants a readership—even if that’s a future readership–should have an author newsletter. I often hear authors worry… Read more »
