Diction is being picky about words. Picky, picky, picky — my mother’s lament when I whined about my meal. I wanted borders on my plate. I cringed at green beans crossing over mashed potatoes or meatloaf touching corn. “It all goes to the same place,” she’d say. Still, I persisted in moving food apart. Why? Taste matters. Our writing all goes to the same place, too: to a reader’s mind. But we don’t just heap word upon word like mashed … Read More »

I frequently give a presentation on point of view in writing, explaining the big and little techniques for avoiding and escaping viewpoint traps. One aspect that often gets overlooked is staying true to the viewpoint character’s voice. We have viewpoint options. In simplest terms, first person, second person, and third person, but variations exist. Unless you’re writing a story in third person objective — that is, a non-subjective camera point of view, or the proverbial fly on the wall, in … Read More »

I have a friend who recently admitted shamefacedly to our writers’ group that she has been writing—and selling—Regency romances under an assumed name. We know her as a person committed to the highest standards of authorship, aspiring to real literary fiction, constantly refining and perfecting her style. And so our immediate reaction was to console, with a kind of world-weary fatalism. Gotta pay the bills, friend. Because those carefully crafted manuscripts had not sold. But wait. Is there something wrong … Read More »

When it comes to writing books, nonfiction is probably one of the easiest to organize and create. We’re not saddled with different storytelling structures and models. We don’t have to deal with character back stories, plot twists, or worry about building a new universe. There are a few different ways to organize a nonfiction book, depending on your subject matter and your purpose, and knowing how you’re going to organize the book can make the thing so much easier to … Read More »

Can you think of your story as a sandwich? Have I lost my mind? Probably. But it’s been a while since breakfast. Let’s think about the two pieces of bread as the beginning and end of your story. They need to be appealing, satisfying, and somewhat sturdy if they are going to support whatever fillings you place between them. It can be wheat or rye, thick or thin. The choice is yours. I’m going with multi-grain bread for my story-supporters. … Read More »

“Gawking” is phrasing which puts an unnecessary layer between the reader and the action. If a character sees, watches, or hears another character or an event in the story, then that character is screening the reader’s view of what’s happening. The scene starts with: Out for an early morning stroll, Sean was the first to notice the fire in the old barn. For the second sentence, we have two choices: He saw the leaping flames and smelled the acrid smoke. … Read More »