Blog
Sometimes I write about writing.
Don’t Write Stupid Characters
Don’t you hate it when you’re reading a novel or watching a movie and the main character does something stupid? It’s one thing when a minor character in a horror flick does this—Don’t go in the barn, you idiot—but it’s another thing altogether when your heroine won’t...
Plot is a Character Arc
Story structure and plot are not the same thing. They’re like climate and weather, where climate is what you expect and weather is what you get. Plot is what happens in your particular story. Fido the dog steals kibble from Gaius the cat, then Gaius gets his revenge...
How to Kill Your Plot—Especially Your Ending
The worst possible ending to your story is having your character wake up in bed and discover that it was all a dream. Yes, The Wizard of Oz ends this way, and yes, it’s a classic, but you won’t get away with it, but that’s okay because you didn’t want to anyway. The...
How to Write Flashbacks
The worst possible place for a flashback is right at the beginning of a story, but I see this on the regular from beginning authors. I know what’s usually going on here. Most of the time, these early, misplaced flashbacks are there to illustrate a character’s...
How to Know If You Should Delete a Scene
Beginning authors often bloat up their stories with scenes that they don’t need and that readers don’t enjoy, a problem that’s usually fatal if it occurs anywhere near the opening chapters. It’s not uncommon, when working as a...
How to Structure a Scene
Scenes are the building blocks of novels, memoirs, and other types of narrative nonfiction. They’re like stories unto themselves. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end. They’re where things happen in real time in a specific place, where characters interact with...
Writing a Book Is Like Eating an Elephant
Most people who want to be writers never write a book. A huge number of professional writers, including those who make their living from writing, never write one. It’s so much work, and so much easier to stick to articles, short stories, and blog posts. Writing and...
How to Write a Killer First Page
Okay, let’s say you’ve nailed your first sentence. You start with some kind of disturbance or tension or conflict or a question. Now what? What does the rest of the first page look like? There is no formula, no single correct way to proceed. I can tell you how not to...
How to Write a Killer First Sentence
I’m about to tell you one of the most important things you’ll ever learn as a writer: Agents, acquisitions editors, and magazine editors can determine (with greater than 90 percent accuracy) if a manuscript was written by a seasoned professional, a semiprofessional,...
Subscribe