If you read my last article on the Point of No Return Decision (Signpost Scene #5 in James Scott Bell’s Superstructure) you know that every Lead makes a HUGE decision that launches them into Act II. But what happens after that massive moment? For some weaker first drafts of a WIP, sometimes nothing. This is… Read more »
When I was out at drinks with a friend a few weeks ago to talk about the first three chapters of my novel I’d sent him, one of the things that kept coming up was the language. Visceral and heavy, paranoid even. These were the words he used to describe it, almost like he was… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! And welcome to our extra special Halloween episode, as today I have the pleasure of having the amazing mother-daughter writing team of P.C. and Kristin Cast on the show! P.C. and Kristin are both New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors, most known for their wildly successful House of Night… Read more »
Many authors have day jobs that are completely unrelated to their writing. For example, Caitriona Lally, who wrote her novel while working as a janitor at her alma mater, Trinity College, which recently gave her a prestigious award for her novel Eggshells. The article about Lally mentions that she graduated with a degree in English… Read more »
It was a full four years ago that Facebook bought Instagram, and since that time, Facebook has also started to copy its sister network’s top features—specifically, Instagram Stories. (This is after Instagram copied it from Snapchat, of course—but then, Mom always said imitation is the best form of flattery. I’m sure Snapchat agrees.) Snark aside,… Read more »
“Critique days” were met with both anxiety and excitement in my undergraduate creative writing courses. The whole class would sit in a circle and, one-by-one, we would each have our writing critiqued by both our peers and our instructors. Talk about nerve wracking. Sometimes the feedback would be helpful and encouraging. Other times, I would… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Melanie Moyer. Melanie is a debut author and veteran ghostwriter. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh where she studied Creative Writing, Religious Studies, Folklore, and Russian History. She regularly co-hosts a horror pop culture podcast called Splatter Chatter, serves as a co-host… Read more »
The holiday season always reminds me of my mother’s sugar cookies, warm sweaters, and cozy mysteries—novels, short stories, Hallmark Movie Mysteries—any variety will do. I love sipping an Eggnog Latte curled under a warm blanket reading (or watching) a good cozy mystery while the rest of the world rages outside. There’s something about the familiar… Read more »
Over the years, I’ve read a lot of books about the craft and process of writing. Almost invariably, when discussing the all-consuming writing routine, the author will say something like this: “You must keep your writing time sacred. That means you’ll have to say no to things to which you might otherwise say yes. If… Read more »
Last summer, Alison Walsh from the literary food blog Alison’s Wonderland Recipes sent me a surprising invitation: To write the introduction for her then-upcoming cookbook, A Literary Tea Party. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. First, it meant having a byline in a published book—and what writer wouldn’t be excited about that? Second, it… Read more »
