Writing for Teens: Interview with Elana Johnson

We end our week-long celebration of Teen Literature with an interview today with the charming Elana Johnson.  I began following Elana’s blog when I first started exploring the blogsphere for fellow writers.  Immediately it became one of my go-to writing blogs because of her honest, no-nonsense advice and her generosity to other writers.  She’s one… Read more »

Find Your Talisman

Each book has a central idea or theme that carries the story. The idea may be something abstract like love, faith, freedom, truth or adventure. As you work, the idea will develop its own story. longing for a mother discovering “truth” about oneself searching for home finding a religion In a way the whole story… Read more »

Plot vs. Character: Leaving Room for Magic

Writing fiction is alchemy. We can have all the ingredients for a great story and still miss that wow factor that makes it all come together, makes our work transform from words on a page to a living, breathing entity with the possibility to burrow into someone else’s consciousness. And we all know plenty of… Read more »

You ARE Creative

Have you ever had this experience?  You come up with an idea for a book or story.  You write a few chapters, get some feedback, maybe write another chapter or two.  Then your entire world comes crashing down.  You discover that someone else has written a book that’s similar to what you have.  It’s not… Read more »

What’s Your Creative Process?

Every writer’s process is different. Some spend ages perfecting each word or sentence in their heads, then sit down and hammer out a draft in no time. Others slap their words down on the page, then reshape those words draft after draft until they look like art rather than a jumbled mess. Some write by… Read more »

Top 10 Website Picks

It’s true. When we’re procrastinating, chances are we are spending most of our time on the web. The good news is that some of the best writers’ resources can be found online, so even when you’re procrastinating no need to worry about wasting time! Next time you have a few minutes in between flurried writing… Read more »

Nine NO’s of Dialogue

There are nine things you should beware of when writing dialogue.  I call these the “Nine NO’s” because they’re things that as a general rule writers should try to avoid.  Notice, though, that these are not the “Nine Nevers” just Nine NO’s.  That means that while you should try to avoid these things, you shouldn’t… Read more »

Demystifying Dialogue: Perfect Your Punctuation

The one grammar problem I see most frequently when I teach creative writing is with dialogue punctuation.  And it’s understandable why this topic leaves many writers mystified.  Dialogue punctuation is confusing.  Is it a comma or a period before the end-quote?  What if you have a question mark or an exclamation point?  Here’s a quick… Read more »

Untraditional Outline Techniques

This past week we’ve been talking about outlines.  On Monday I asked the question: Plotter or Pantser? Where Do You Stand?  That post got me thinking about my own writing process. I’m usually not a seat-of-my-pants writer but I hate traditional outlines.  Something about long lists (I.A, 2.b–it’s all Greek to me) just doesn’t work… Read more »

How to Create a Story Map

One of my favorite ways to outline or plan a story is to map it out like a subway or road map.  Here’s how this technique works. Each road or subway line represents a different story-thread or plot line.  The dots (exits on the highways or subway stops) represent different scenes or moments in the… Read more »