Character development was widely (if unsurprisingly) regarded as one of the foundational pillars of writing a good story among the many top-selling authors present at this year’s ThrillerFest. In fact, “character” was the first of Steve Berry’s “6 C’s of Story Structure.” As Dale Brown said, “What is character? The motivations that drive the story …… Read more »
So far in Developing Themes In Your Stories, we’ve covered character arcs, the story premise, and external conflict, which are all important building blocks for stories. Dialogue, however, is more of an interior design element. It adds color and life to a story and aids in the overall delivery. It’s also an excellent method for… Read more »
The blogosphere is full of advice for writers about self-promotion, building online relationships, self-branding, creating a platform, and more. But the truth is, if you ask most agents and editors what they’d most like to see from a new writer, the answer is almost always, “Great writing.” With that in mind, here are five ways to pursue excellence. 1…. Read more »
Over the course of this year’s ThrillerFest, the highs and lows of the writer’s life—both as a craft and as a business—were discussed at length. In one-on-one interviews with genre titans Mark Billingham, Charlaine Harris, and Thrillermaster Nelson DeMille, as well as in a number of breakout panels, many of the participating authors shared about… Read more »
Writing full time. Every writer’s fantasy, right? It’s our ultimate goal, isn’t it? Selling enough books to quit the day job. I’ve been testing the theory over the last four weeks on an extended break from my day job, and I have to confess, I’m not sure if it’s my ultimate fantasy anymore. I know…. Read more »
I just read Playing the Short Game, by Doug Smith. It had some very valuable insight about the short story market. Over the next few articles, I’ll be distilling some of his insights about short stories, as well as adding a few of my own. This week I’ll be preparing the soil, so to speak,… Read more »
Happy almost Independence Day! I know it’s not Friday, but I was so excited to share this post, I couldn’t wait until tomorrow. Plus it’s a holiday week, so here’s our regular #5onFri column, this week on a Thursday. We’re deep into summer now, and everyone’s minds are on barbecues and beach trips. But here… Read more »
I have a confession to make. My two daughters loved Junie B. Jones when they were little. Adored that whole (giant) series by Barbara Park. And I hated those books with a fiery passion. As a narrator, Junie B. was rude, impulsive and disobedient, with poor grammar and misspelled words to boot. She was my… Read more »
OMG, I have been holding onto this secret for weeks now and I’m so unbelievably excited to share the news. Drumroll please… DIY MFA is hosting its first ever online writing conference! I have been a combination of nervous and excited about this announcement and I haven’t been able to keep my head on straight for the past few… Read more »
So far in our series Developing Themes In Your Stories, we’ve covered how understanding your protagonist’s character arc and developing your story’s premise sentence can help you consciously nurture literary themes. Today we’ll discuss a third way of mining for themes by looking outside your characters and studying the external conflict. Like with the previous… Read more »
