Who doesn’t love the daring feats of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley? And most of the time they’re acting independently, without a parent in sight. That being said, this independent action gets them in all sorts of trouble with not only parents, but their teachers and school headmaster, Dumbledore. That’s the thing with… Read more »
If you’ve spent much time in the writing world, you’re probably familiar with the idea of character arcs. For those who are new to this term, character arcs are the internal transformations of your cast as they struggle to overcome major flaws or wounds—typically in the form of a positive, negative, or flat arc. As… Read more »
What makes a great love story? Whether you’re writing romance, mystery, or literary fiction, when you’re incorporating romance into our work, the task is the same—to write a believable, engaging relationship that keeps readers turning the pages. (I write contemporary fiction, for example, but I write contemporary fiction that sometimes has romance in it, and… Read more »
Happy New Year! 2021 is behind us and I, for one, am looking toward the future with plans to blossom in new ways in my life and in my writing. To that end, I’ve decided to take this column in a new direction. In my previous posts, I covered how collaborative storytelling games can aid… Read more »
Writing may seem like a solitary practice, but writers have made use of writer’s groups and feedback circles for a long time. There is incalculable value in receiving outside input about your writing. Other people can see things about your writing that you may be blind to. However, writers’ groups can only critique the work… Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Brandie June. Brandie spent most of her childhood onstage or reading, as both activities let her live in fantastic stories. She moved to Los Angeles to study acting at UCLA, and eventually branched out into costume design and playwriting. While she spends most of her free time writing,… Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Leslie A. Rasmussen. Leslie was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She graduated with a bachelor’s in communications from UCLA and went on to write television comedies for Gerald McRaney, Burt Reynolds, Roseanne Barr, Norm McDonald, Drew Carey, and Ralph Macchio, as well as The Wild Thornberrys… Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Arch. Jeff grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he spent two of his high school years at a boarding school much like the one depicted in his debut novel Attachments, which we’ll be discussing today. In the ’70s, he studied film/tv/theater production at Emerson College in Boston… Read more »
Do you create a character or does a character create themselves? Thirteen years ago, I was walking over the Norfolk marshes with my husband, an archaeologist. He remarked that prehistoric people had seen marshland as sacred: because it’s neither land nor sea, but something in-between, they saw it as a link to the afterlife. As… Read more »
As writers, I’m sure we’ve all heard our fair share of colorful writing advice from famous authors. From the controversial “Write drunk, edit sober” (frequently attributed to Ernest Hemingway, but actually sourced from a novel by Peter de Vries) to the unorthodox suggestion of “Get a cat” (one of my personal favorites, courtesy of Muriel… Read more »
