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 »
Writing a captivating novel (one that grabs readers like a new episode of Stranger Things) is perhaps the most challenging personal project you’ll willingly embark on. Why? Because it demands a unique blend of creativity, craftsmanship, storytelling finesse, resilience, and the unwavering belief that you’re a literary genius, even when your words feel as lackluster… Read more »
Picture books are their own unique art form, and often it’s a memorable main character that makes a picture book feel so special that you want to read it again and again and share it with everyone you know. Whether the protagonist embodies the theme and goes on a singular adventure, or gets in trouble… Read more »
A few weeks ago at a dinner party, I fielded one of my least favorite questions: “What do you do?” In response, I smiled blandly, mentioned my writing, and braced myself for the usual barrage of follow-ups: “How do you support yourself?” “What do you write?” “What inspires you?” No, my writing doesn’t support me…. Read more »
Classification, like periodization, is arbitrary, and much of it derives from marketing. Where do we put in the bookstores, so interested people can find it? A quick tour of the internet, however, may lead us to paraphrase Ozzy Osbourne: How many bloody categories are there? Five, eight, ten? Keeping in mind that historical novels need… Read more »
Why both matter and how to get them on the page, from manuscript to query letter On weekend evenings, when the kids are finally asleep, my husband and I turn on the TV and scroll through the streaming platforms, searching for something to watch. We have a hard time agreeing on how to spend our… Read more »
Let us begin with the very basic question: “What is world building?” If you are going to write fiction, every story needs a place to call home, where the action happens, where your characters live. This can be extraordinarily complex (as in the case of fantasy world building), or as simple as “the story takes… Read more »
Stepping into someone else’s shoes is a defined part of both creating and reading fiction. One thing no one told me was that I would change so much as a writer once I had a kid. It makes sense: becoming a parent forces someone to become an entirely different role; it broadens life experience in… Read more »
Hi there, beautiful people on the Internet! It’s been a while since we’ve met on Wordly Wise. I have been curious how things are going for you with your WIP? For me, I have been tinkering away at my work-in-progress, and I have discovered a powerful secret to unlock my story’s full potential: character development. … Read more »
As a writer, you have your own unique gifts and only you can do the work you’re meant to do, but you’re also part of a larger art form with a long history and an amazing community. Just as we study the work of the writers we admire, we can study the path they’ve taken… Read more »
