If you’ve ever laughed out loud or cried or chewed a fingernail while reading a book, it’s because the character came to life for you. The character’s experiences drew you into the story, so you vicariously felt that awkward moment, heartbreak, or fear. How does an author create that kind of connection with a reader? Through credibility, authenticity, and originality. Credibility Credibility makes the reader believe the story is possible. Research yields facts and knowledge about the story setting and … Read More »

Did your parents tell you about their growing-up days? Would your children and grandchildren like to read about how they coped during the Great Depression? The Second World War? What their teenage years were like? What do you suppose your children and grandchildren would like to know about your own growing-up days? Do they know where you were born? Where you went to school? What you and your family and your friends did together? I’m talking about writing for the … Read More »

You did it! You completed an amazing writing journey, and you’ve got something you’re proud of and excited about—a novel, short story, memoir, etc. After long (endless?) hours of writing, tears of frustration, and feelings of self-doubt, you finally typed those last, two word: The End. Before you whisk it off to your editor, consider these suggestions to put it in the best possible shape before handing it off. The Hiding Obvious You’ve done the spell/grammar check that comes with … Read More »

Storytelling to entertain means skipping the boring parts. Why narrate the time it takes a character to travel from one point to another or to dress or eat or perform other mundane activities? The reader wants meaningful action and gradually increasing conflict. By plotting the story so one event causes another and so on, we choose what happens and the order in which events happen. There will be gaps in time and changes in setting and point of view from … Read More »

January is about beginnings—new resolutions, new ideas, and hopefully, new first drafts. While thinking about beginnings, I thought about one of my first writing classes, high school journalism. I don’t remember much from the class except that a good lead should always include the answers to four important questions: the 4 Ws. These are; who, what, where, and when. After a good lead, we were taught the story could move on into the meaty details of how, or why. Good … Read More »

I happened across this photo of a stone wall project I completed a few years ago, and it made me think about how I might compare it to the construction of a story. Tools, materials, planning, and brain power translates to creating a wall (or a story) that will stand the test of time. I thought it might be fun to break apart this project into story-building elements. Plan for the End Result Before you head out to the landscape … Read More »