A story without conflict is not a story. If Jonah had gone directly to Nineveh as God told him to, Jonah would be forgettable. We remember Jonah’s story because he tried to avoid God’s directive by taking a boat somewhere else, got thrown overboard by the boat crew, and a whale swallowed him and spit him out on the shore of Nineveh. Lots of conflicts here. Man versus God. Man versus man. Man versus himself. Man versus Nature. You get … Read More »

Today’s post takes off from where we left our Sculpting the Shapley Sentence, Part I. We’re going to look at five more techniques that might be used once you’re closing in on final revisions and really want certain sentences/phrases/sections to stick with your readers. Take a look at these quotes and then we’ll discuss what it is that makes them successful. “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” — Albert Einstein … Read More »

I’ll be completely honest: Doing research is not one of my favorite pastimes. There are lots of things I’d rather be doing than pore over some dry and musty tome with almost as many pages of footnotes as of actual text But as a writer of history-based fiction it tends to come with the territory. Over the years I’ve learned to accept this as a “necessary evil” — and also to develop some less tedious ways of finding out what … Read More »

When the main character in a story is created, the reader needs to be able “see” a fully-formed individual they can connect with and invest in for the duration of the story. He/she cannot be a teetering paper doll or a penciled stick figure struggling to grab and hold the reader’s attention. Let’s see what we can do about that. A Physical Body Would your reader recognize your MC (main character) if they walked into the room? Would you, the … Read More »

“Are you a planner or a pantser?” This is a frequently asked question in the writing world. On the surface, it’s a simple matter of inquiring whether you create a detailed plan before you write or you throw caution to the muse and fly by the seat of your pants. Naturally, once the process is proclaimed, the writer develops a need to defend it with unwavering loyalty. The level of passion and conviction generated can often rival other critical life … Read More »

Characters should be relatable, we all know that. But do they have to be likeable? I once had a reader comment of one of my protagonists, “That was the most disagreeable character since The Great Gatsby.” My first reaction was “Wow! Me and Scott Fitzgerald in the same sentence!” But then I realized I didn’t come off too well in the comparison. However, there’s food for thought in that reader’s remark, because The Great Gatsby is a highly successful novel, … Read More »