I’m no Grammar Girl, but I was lucky enough to have gone to grammar school back when they really did teach grammar. And I just read a book that abused English grammar so badly that it was about as much fun to read as having your teeth drilled. Guess what, folks? Without correct grammar, it’s impossible to say what you mean. So be patient while I rant a little. It never hurts to be made freshly aware of things you … Read More »

One of the first decisions every author has to make as she sits down at her keyboard to start a new book is Whose head will I be in? What will be the point of view from which I tell my story? One told in the first person (I) will sound very different than the more common third person (he or she. Or maybe even it). Each conveys a different type of intimacy and inflects the story a bit. Me, … Read More »

Here are two devices that have become very popular in recent years: the prologue and the epilogue. These are little pieces of text, generally only a few pages long, that precede the opening of a book (to set up the story) or after its “The End” (to explain what happens subsequently). Some people like them; some—me included—do not. But in response to the will of the people, I face inserting a prologue into a novel I’m working on. So let’s … Read More »

Perhaps it seems self-evident to warn “Don’t say the same thing over and over”—yet it needs to be said. Not because authors are a stupid lot (we aren’t), but because of the on-again-off-again nature of writing and other totally understandable things. Let me explain. I’m currently reading a good novel. The characters are interesting. The scenes are described well. The action comes on fast. Yet in the 25 pages I’ve read, it has been said no less than five times … Read More »

For those who celebrate Christmas, this is the season of reflecting on the incarnation of the Word. To bring that down to “word” with a small w and the rather less exalted profession of writing, that means that we who create novels are really taking inanimate words and spinning from them believable people and whole worlds that can pass for real. Pretty amazing, no? We give words flesh. Just As in Real Life… That’s where the old adage “Show, don’t … Read More »

It’s November again, and that—for those, who have ever participated—may still mean NaNoWriMo. Yes, November is the month when lots of writers across the country used to engage to write a whole novel before the clock strikes December. I’m not so sure rushing out a novel in four weeks is a great idea, myself. It can be done if one enters with all the background research and prep work accomplished. Even still, it has a downside. Although it’s no longer … Read More »