Friends and readers, you have reached the final installment of Building Your Own Boat, a craft-centered column for fellow self-taught writers in progress. Thank you for sticking with me! If there is such a thing as a golden rule in the writing of fiction, it is that you must keep the reader engaged. A “likable”… Read more »
Ah, mid-November! When, in many parts of the US, one delights in autumnal hues, crisp, sweet, final apple harvest days, and pumpkin-spiced everything as far as the eye can see! Or, if you are participating in National Novel Writing Month, this might be the crankiest time of year. “50,000 words in 30 days? What on… Read more »
When I first started seriously pursuing writing, I struggled, like many new beginners, with the preciousness of my prose. My early stories were bad. And, I knew it. After a few years, when I finally wrote a short piece I was proud of, it seemed incredibly precious and fragile. When I told a friend that… Read more »
