Feel the Heat: Sex and Fiction. 8 Tips for Building Tension
Will your fictional characters, at some point, hit the sheets? As most of us creative types enjoy a delicious romp in the sack in real life, it shouldn’t be too difficult to apply our trusty, book-enhancing observational skills to break down, scene by scene, moment by smokin’-hot moment, the escalating tension between our first horny thought […]
Lit Agent Laurie Abkemeier’s Advice on Connecting with Readers
The only thing better than buzz about your new book is PRE buzz resulting in pre-orders. I follow agent Laurie Abkemeier (Brian DeFiore & Co.) on Twitter, and found this blog post by Erin Reel at TheLitCoach.com featuring Abkemeier’s advice about connecting with your audience so that your book sales transcend the frontier of your family and friends. This […]
Act One: 10 Essential Elements
I’m a little addicted to the The Script Lab. As I worry over and scrutinize my fiction novel, tweets about screen-writing from @TheScriptLab interject with lucid, helpful, applicable ideas. My blog is for creatives of all stripes, and ideas for good writing can come from any genre. I really like this list of elements; it reminds […]
Self-doubt and writing: amicable partners?
It’s Monday morning, and I am dragging myself through the mud. Am I making any progress? Is what I’m writing any good, any good whatsoever? Over the weekend, my husband and I had the rare opportunity to enjoy a date night. It was a beautiful evening, so we sat outdoors at one of our favorite […]
7 tips for aspiring children’s writers from author Audrey Vernick
For many years, New Jersey children’s author Audrey Vernick wrote literary short fiction, where a big success is “selling” your story to a literary magazine that pays you with free copies of the magazine. Honored twice by the New Jersey State Council of the Arts with its prestigious fiction fellowship, Audrey has published seven children’s books […]
Television as Teacher: 5 things we can learn from TV writers and their characters
A few weeks ago I attended the Writers Faire at UCLA. There were over 45 seminars on the craft of writing, presented by a humbling variety of the nation’s finest authors, poets and screenwriters—who just happen to teach at UCLA. (I’m salivating as I write this. I live just a few hours south–too far to […]
Better your writing with a little help from your friends – 5 ways
All writers have at least one friend who can be trusted with their babies–both their actual child AND a writing-in-progress. Perhaps you are blessed with an arsenal of buddies, pals, and mentors who are avid readers, writers, editor,s or English majors? Fabulous. You know who turn to when the words have been written. But can […]
Crafting the Perfect Outline Identifying 5 Major Plotpoints
We can all agree on one thing: there is no one perfect recipe for cooking up a good story. The same goes for crafting an outline. Trust me, I’m elbows deep in it, and everywhere I seek advice, I’m given a different perspective. I am a big fan of Dramatica‘s approach, but at the same […]
Free Your Pen — Eric Maisel’s advice for “Wishing”
Have you ever read a book on the writing process that could not simply be read, savored and applied to your practice? Unable to sit quietly on your bookshelf amid other volumes of writing advice, certain publications stir your inner creative force and cry out to be shared. (If you would like to tell us […]
8 points to consider when writing your synopsis
As I regrettably procrastinate over writing my novel synopsis, cherished writing time slips through fingers that ought to be on the keyboard. There simply isn’t time for procrastination, either. This summer ought to be my most incisive lesson on focus; with my children’s wildly varied summer schedule requiring me, your humble fiction writer must perform […]