Know Your Strengths as a Writer
Want to use your writing strengths to reach your readers? My two greatest strengths as a writer are: I can make you think and I can make you laugh. Sometimes … Continue reading
Favorite Writing Advice: Adding Tension to Your Story
One simple idea can give your story much-needed tension. One phrase — one sentence, really — can help most authors make their stories more tense, more dramatic, more gripping. “If … Continue reading
Getting Your Book Published: Labor, Luck or Kismet?
Every time somebody says, “Things happen for a reason,” I say, “Yeah, but it doesn’t have to be a good reason.” I’m not exactly a believer in what you’d call … Continue reading
Can You Learn More From Fiction Than Nonfiction?
Learning a little something from everything you read. I’ve said it a hundred times if I’ve said it once: “Write what you know, read what you don’t.” Writing what you … Continue reading
Learning to Write from the Ides of March
In honor of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, here’s a blog post from a few years (and one month) back. It’s March 15, the famous Ides of … Continue reading
Hidden Meanings in a Story Every Author Finds
Finding messages and meanings in your story you didn’t know were there. Remember that high school or college English class where a student pointed out some hidden meaning in a … Continue reading
5 Steps to Making Your Minor Characters Exciting
Keep your characters from blending into the background. (This is the second part of a two-part post. Click to read 5 Steps to Making Minor Historical Figures Exciting.) I’ve known … Continue reading
Why I Wrote Pete Seeger, The People’s Singer
The importance of making your own hero relevant to a new audience. When you write biographies, you get used to the question, “So, why did you write about so-and-so?” For … Continue reading
5 Steps to Making Minor Historical Figures Exciting
(This is the first of two parts. The second focuses on fiction – Five Steps to Making Your Minor Characters Exciting) Everybody has a story to tell, but some stories … Continue reading
What’s Your Motivation to Write?
Psychologists say there are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsically motivated people do it for the satisfaction; extrinsically motivated people do it for the reward. Both approaches work, … Continue reading
