So, you’ve sent you manuscript to an agent, or an editor, and now you wait. Will they like it? Will they take you on as a client, or publish your work? What makes them decide? Is it the unique premise or clever plot? Maybe the colorful characters? Or the snappy dialog and wonderfully rendered setting?… Read more »
Think of your favorite fictional characters. Chances are they have a personality you can recognize and motivations you can relate to. Drawing on personality systems can help you craft characters who are dynamic and believable enough to live beyond the page. In this post, I’ll introduce the nine personality types of the Enneagram, an insightful… Read more »
Some writers love the short story format while other writers hate the creative confines of a restricted word count. However, short stories have value that go beyond entertainment. Here are seven reasons why you should try writing one: 1) Flesh out a new character or story idea Writing a short story is a great way… Read more »
As human beings, we’re all products of our past; good and bad, our experiences have formed us into who we are. The same should be true of our characters. One way to make them really believable and memorable is to dig into their backgrounds and unearth those defining moments so we’ll better understand how they… Read more »
Who doesn’t love a good book series? George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone novels, Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy – no matter the genre, readers get a thrill out of revisiting familiar settings and reuniting with favorite characters. It’s also possible that we might continue reading a series because… Read more »
In 2014, Marie Kondo sparked a worldwide minimizing trend with the release of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. When I read the book and decided to implement her “tidying” method in early 2017, my space did, in fact, get tidier, but that wasn’t all. As Kondo writes, “My… Read more »
I almost didn’t write this article. My every attempt at beginning failed. Interestingly enough, my last Writing Small article, Tips and Techniques for Training Your Writing Brain, covered a number of techniques to fire your writing muscles up. Yet somehow, I still found myself at a loss. While I’m by no means a prolific author,… Read more »
“No sane person would think of setting out to construct a skyscraper or even a one-family home without a detailed set of plans.” – Albert Zuckerman When Eero Saarinen built the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, he built from the ground up. In other words, he calculated extensive mathematical equations so that the arch curved… Read more »
I’m a huge fan of writing retreats. I’ve attended the Highlights Foundation Unworkshop four times this year, and am headed back in November. I am a big believer in the magic of uninterrupted blocks of writing time, especially if you have a hectic day job. I recently went on a trip to Manchester, Vermont, where… Read more »
When Gabriela interviewed me for a DIY MFA podcast two years ago, one of the questions she asked was, “What are some of the themes of your writing life?” At first my mind went blank. I’d never thought about my writing life from a big-picture perspective before. But the more I considered my writing career… Read more »
