Back to the ... Present: The potential pitfalls of using flashbacks
There you are, reading along in a novel about thirty-five-year-old Amanda, when all of a sudden the author sends you back in time to a...
It's Not (Only) about You: Writing a memoir that unites the universal and the particular
I love memoirs. I love reading them, and I also love editing them. There is something about helping authors to tell their own stories in...
Inside Out: Using internal and external conflict to create a compelling story
As writers, we often hear that conflict is what makes a story. A character wants something and they face obstacles to getting it, which...
Write What You Know: You Don't Need to Be An Alien to Write Science Fiction
Writers are often given the advice to write what they know. But have you ever really thought about what this means? Clearly, we can’t...
A Hot Mess: Why you shouldn’t expect your first draft to be a work of art
I am currently writing the first draft of my latest story. I call it a story and not a novel or a short story because, to be honest, I...
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da: Writing Lessons from Songwriting
I love to write in a variety of formats, but one of my favorites is songwriting. I love the process, and I get really excited about the...
Perfection versus Excellence: Why there might still be errors in your book after an edit
You’ve written a book and can’t wait to share it with readers. But you realize the importance of having another set of eyes on it, so you...
Information Overload: Where to look for (and remove) info dumping in your novel
When you write a novel, there is a lot of information you have to give your readers. They need to learn about your characters, your...
You’re Such a Know-It-All: Things to consider when writing in third-person omniscient point of view
One of the first things you have to decide when you sit down to write a book is what point of view you’re going to use. The first choice...
Getting Someplace while Going Nowhere: Two lessons about writing that I learned from stationary swim
Let’s start with the obvious question: What in the world is stationary swimming? It is just swimming while using a contraption—basically...
