For most of the world —although maybe not most of Florida—fall is a time of change. The weather is changing; the days are growing shorter and the light more oblique. The leaves change color and go through a moment of glory before they say goodbye until next spring. Some people find autumn melancholy, because we’re sliding into winter. But if you’re like me, you find it tonic. Change does a body good! It does a writer good too. Call it … Read More »

We’re proud to welcome the Stetson University MFA in Creative Writing as a sponsor of Florida WritersCon 2025 held on October 17–19, 2025 in Orlando, FL. As Florida’s only low-residency MFA program, Stetson MFA offers writers a rigorous yet flexible path for writers to deepen their craft and broaden their creative horizons. About Stetson MFA Stetson University’s MFA in Creative Writing: Florida’s only low-res MFA. Wherever you are. Whatever you write. Stetson’s two-year program specializes in both Prose (including novels, … Read More »

If a word exists it’s because there’s a reasonable, targeted use for it someplace (like there). But often, we writers fall into a habit of overusing it and its various forms. Sometimes this is due to the word’s prevalence in informal speech, which has fewer rules—and is lazier—than writing.  At that point, our word starts to become diluted, having very little meaning. And certainly, we all want to avoid watered-down vocabulary. At least, some of us do. Something Vague This … Read More »

We’re honored to welcome Scrivener as a sponsor of Florida WritersCon 2025, held on October 17–19, 2025 in Orlando, FL. For writers around the globe, Scrivener has become the trusted companion for tackling long-form writing projects—from bestselling novels to student theses, from screenplays to legal briefs. About Scrivener Scrivener is the go-to app for writers. Used by bestselling novelists and new writers alike, no matter how you like to write or what you’re writing, Scrivener unites everything you’ll need to … Read More »

If you think of the plotline of the novel as a geography, some of them are full of hills and dales and others are as flat as Florida. Lets call “hills” the moments of suspense, fear, or angry confrontation that spice up the horizon. “Flatlands” would be the emotionally level parts where the story chugs along. The best plots have both features, so we can’t call one better than the other—but if I only got one of them, I’d want … Read More »

We all love novels full of sensory detail—the rhythmic pulse of crickets. The opalescent colors of a summer twilight. Sight, in particular, is the chief organ we turn on the world, unless we’re unfortunate enough to have lost that faculty. We go through the world seeing things, noticing. From our primeval origins in the trees, it’s that ability that has made us safer and let us catch our prey. After that comes hearing. We get many of our signals from … Read More »