We love, hate, and cry over fictional characters. They can be our best friends, first loves, and most inspiring mentors. So how can we, as writers, make sure our stories are populated by characters readers care about? It’s not enough to have so-so characters, and we definitely don’t want them to be flat or boring…. Read more »
My next few articles will act as a deep dive into specific short form works. We’ll examine a piece from each short form and look into its inner workings to find the path to success in our own short form pieces. I confess that I don’t regularly read plays. I’m not a theater maven. And… Read more »
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 »
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 »
When it comes time to start on a new writing project, one of my favorite things to do is create a playlist (I call them “soundtracks”). It’s fun to imagine the music that would play in your story’s future film or television adaptation. Above all, having a soundtrack on the ready on those days you… Read more »
Attention romance writers with a desire to create the next exciting, best-selling, jump up and slap your pappy, inspirational (Inspy) romance novel. No, you don’t have to go back and reread that last sentence. Inspirational romance sells and you need to climb onto one of the fastest growing subgenres with a breakout novel or can’t-put-it-down… Read more »
Why do you write? If I were to take a survey of all of you right now, I bet I’d get some similar answers. Writing gets the stories in my head out into the world. I write to express emotions. I write because I want to see my byline. I do it for the money…. Read more »
Punctuation can feel like a burden, something we either do correctly or not. After all, grammar guides and style books were created for a reason. But in reality, punctuation is a powerful resource to enhance our writing. Looking in any two grammar guides for rules about punctuation usage, we’ll be sure to find conflicting advice…. Read more »
When people learn that I’m a poet, two questions usually come up. If someone hasn’t read my work before, they might ask, “What are your poems about?” On the other hand, if someone is familiar with my poetry or has read a particular piece, they sometimes want to know, “Why did you write that poem?”… Read more »
After graduate school and a short period of teaching English at a small college, I moved back to New York resolved to become a novelist. My mother loaned me her crowded, unheated painting studio on 14th Street overlooking S. Kleins and I attempted to plunge into my career. I wanted to write long intricately plotted… Read more »
