Regardless of the genre you write in, we can all claim to be authors of speculative fiction of some kind or another. Every story speculates about something. Our imagination is built from even the simplest what if question. What if this happened, what would happen next? What if this confronted our heroine, would she succeed? What if this transpired, how could our hero escape? Whether you write mysteries, thrillers, romance or mainstream literary, the journeys of your characters are driven … Read More »

It’s difficult to switch from writer to reader. I’m in the final phase of editing, and I’m reading my middle-grade mystery for the umpteenth time to see if it flows, hits the vital plot points, and becomes something the reader will have difficulty putting down. The reader in me dives in and becomes engrossed with the gothic mansion and the scary relative. It’s a good sign. Then the editor in me decides to tweak a phrase, insert a word, or enhance … Read More »

A good humor writer is a master of deception, a psychological deceiver, a sensory trickster. They’re filthy rotten liars. That’s because good humor is based on violated expectations. That is, the laugh comes from being surprised when you think one thing is going to happen, but another does instead. It’s based on what psychologists call the Incongruity Theory or Incongruity-Resolution Theory. That’s because the humor actually happens when you realize and recognize the incongruity.. Here’s how it works. “Take my … Read More »

  A scene’s ending should leave the reader with more information about the plot than he had when the scene began. But it should also leave the reader wanting more. Tall order! How can this be done successfully? A scene must be a conclusion—to a conversation or a date, perhaps. Maybe the scene ends a life or a job—something life-changing—and the MC has to ask himself where he goes from there.   Or, perhaps, the ending of the scene is … Read More »

I have just deleted 40,000 words (my doing, not the computer’s), from my work in progress, whose length over the last phase of writing and editing, had spun out of control, edging close to 130,000 words. The book is now at 89,000 words – in the next round of writing and editing, its length cannot reach more than 90,000, not if I want a publishing house to look at it, me being a first time writer. It is a handy … Read More »

We’ve dissected the scene. We’ve talked about scene launches. Now let’s get to the heart of the scenes—The Middles. Think of the middle “as a realm of possibility between the scene opening and its ending, where major drama and conflict … unfold.” (1) However, beware of the seductive power of the middle that will tempt you into narrative by-roads. Those “pretty flower beds of words” that make the reader want to nod off. Don’t let them … ever! If you’ve … Read More »