I challenge you to approach your usual prompts and exercises as targeted efforts to make progress on your story. Starting with these three writing prompts designed to drive character development.
Read moreWriting In Layers: Why It’s Okay for Your First Draft to Be Full of Holes
Next time you hit a wall in your work in progress, just hop over it. Leave yourself a little placeholder for your next pass, and keep moving forward to get that story down on the page.
Read moreWhat to Do With Manuscript Feedback
You’ve sent your work off to critique partners, beta readers, or a developmental editor, and now you’re staring at a pile of feedback, wondering how, exactly, to approach it.
Read moreWriting Prompt for World Building: Hammurabi’s Code
No matter how fantastical or how realistic, every fictional world has its own set of rules characters must follow.
Read moreA Little Too Convenient? Managing Coincidence in Fiction
Sometimes we just need a little help from fate to see our stories all the way through. And that’s ok. But there are more effective ways to set up those coincidences than dropping them in right at the critical moment.
Read moreWhat Is a Book Editor’s Job?
I break down what it is, exactly, that book editors do and do not do for our clients.
Read moreWhy Books on Writing Can Be Your Best Tools or Your Biggest Obstacles
“If one would employ a book such as this most usefully, let him determine to begin writing immediately.” - Samuel Selden, An Introduction to Playwriting
Read moreWhy Every Author Needs a Commonplace Book — And What to Put in It
A commonplace book can be a great tool for just about anybody, and it can be particularly useful for authors as a repository for inspiration, ideas, and notes that can help us win our battles with writer’s block.
Read moreThe “I Want” Song: What Musicals Can Teach Authors about Character Development
This song comes early in the show and spells out, in no uncertain terms, the protagonist’s most heartfelt desires. And it can teach us a lot about developing character objectives for our own novels.
Read more5 Ways to Choose Character Names for Your Novel
What really goes in to naming characters? Well, it turns out, quite a bit.
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