In our kick-off article for Developing Themes In Your Stories, we explored character arc themes and how planning your protagonist’s arc in advance can help determine possible themes. Today, we’ll focus on a second way to consciously nurture themes in our stories: the premise. Like last time, this discussion includes brainstorming and writing activities you… Read more »
Everyone touts Twitter as great for building a target audience. Starting a platform, they call it. But to get on Twitter solely for the purpose of selling books I haven’t even published yet? I’m bored already. I need more instant gratification for motivation to decipher the crazed universe of Twitter. There are obvious benefits: making… Read more »
Series are a big business these days. If you can hook the reader in with the first book, then you’ve got a built-in base of sales for the next two (or three or more) books. Before you start writing a series (or further developing your current one), here are five tips to keep in mind…. Read more »
April is poetry month and today I read So, You Want to Be a Writer? by Charles Bukowski. This might just be my favorite poem of all time about writing. Except maybe for this one and this other one. (But I digress.) Anyway hop on over and read the Bukowski poem right now. It’s OK, I’ll wait. Great, you’re back. Why did… Read more »
When you’re writing a story, how often do you think about theme? It’s OK if your answer is, “Not often.” That was mine last year when a friend asked me about themes in my fantasy novel. Fortunately I found a few, but only after paying close attention to the story. Which got me thinking: Even… Read more »
When it comes to Fifty Shades of Grey, commenting on the poor quality of the writing has become cliché. Mentioning the book in a circle of authors requires a caveat of, “Yes, I know. The writing is weak,” before any further comment can be made. But the fact remains: the trilogy has been wildly successful…. Read more »
When I moved to New York, my first bedroom was, quite literally, the closet under the stairs. I had just come from a small town in Michigan, where we didn’t have a Starbucks, but we did have big bedrooms. The idea of fitting a writing space into my poor excuse for one seemed laughable. But… Read more »
Flash fiction, as we’ve discussed here before, is one of those things you can pick up during a short break. Even if you have no more than 20 minutes to write, it’s possible to whip up a story. The key to writing great flash fiction, however, is a plan. Much like writing a novel, you… Read more »
Every story needs a solid, vivid world that readers can lose themselves in for hours and remember long after they’ve reached The End. Whether that world is another planet, a land of mythical creatures, ancient Egypt, or a modern-day university doesn’t matter. If it feels real to the reader, then the writer has succeeded with… Read more »
A few weeks ago, this article by Ryan Boudinot got the writing world up in arms. In it Boudinot lists eight things about MFA’s that he can now say since he no longer teaches in one of these programs. While the article is harsh, it’s not ground-breaking. Newsflash: writing is hard and some people will hate your… Read more »
