A few weeks ago I attended a national writing conference and listened to a fascinating discussion about character and plot from the perspective of screenwriters. Structure is so important to screenwriters, probably more than it is to prose writers. But, in my opinion, it’s smart for all writers to connect with some of the methods screenwriters use to structure their stories. They see character and plot as one. A plot comes from everything that happens to a character, what he … Read More »

The saying goes, “Tell your readers everything they need to know and nothing they don’t need.” Simple enough: make it “juuust right,” like Baby Bear’s porridge. But how do you know how much is enough… or too much? I wish I could give an easy answer. If we take a look together at the possibilities, I bet you can come up with an answer on your own that fits your writing style. Too Hot! First, there’s the danger of too … Read More »

In honor of National Reading Month (March), and many other fine celebratory days this month, let’s take a look at a book for the very youngest reader/listener. After all, it is never too early to start reading to your child. But how does a writer write a wordless, or almost wordless, book? And how is it done if the writer is not also an illustrator? Obviously, one cannot simply list the few words that appear on the pages and submit … Read More »

Concrete poetry is a fun way to express creativity in a visual form. The words are shaped into an image that is representative of the poem’s theme. The challenge with this type of poetry is formatting the work on a computer if you want to send it out for publication or publish it yourself. There are professional programs out there in the Adobe suite that are perfect for this, but they have a huge learning curve. The good news is … Read More »

Have you ever read a sentence about food that was so vivid it made you actually taste it? Taste is the most powerful of all senses because we love food. We need it to survive and, as humans, eating brings us pleasure. Describing taste can be so impactful for a reader, yet some authors avoid it because they can’t think of the right words. The truth is it’s really hard. You end up actually using all of your senses to … Read More »

We all know that the more reviews a book receives, the better—whether reader responses on Goodreads, BookBub, or Amazon, or professional editorial reviews. But writer, beware: the more reviews pile up, the more likely it is that one or more of them will be bad. That’s statistically inevitable. There is no one book that everyone likes (except maybe Harry Potter). People’s tastes and expectations are too varied. You try to pitch your work to those who “like that kind of … Read More »