This is really basic stuff. You will find hundreds of versions of what I’m going to say here, and the honest ones will say, “This is basic stuff.” Many others, however, will present this basic stuff as if their take on it is revolutionary. This latter group is either (a) lying because their how-to books […]
Once upon a time, there was a great war between the kingdoms of Plött and Påntz. Countless battles were waged, despite the fact that nobody cares which side you’re on as long as the story wins in the end. Plotters have written great stories and terrible stories and all kinds of stories in between. Pantsers
If the word “theme” gives you flashbacks to high school lit class and your withered soul is croaking “Kiiiiill meeeee,” relax. This is not about guessing the intention of some writer who’s been dead for 400 years (or, more accurately, guessing what the teacher’s guide guesses was the intention of some writer who’s been dead
From the mailbag: Q1: Did you learn anything while writing this book? A1: It’s too soon to call it “learned,” but I did have a realization in the postproduction period (too late to apply to this book, but maybe next time). In real life, I over-explain as much as possible, hoping to be thorough and
Several years ago, I had a publishing experience that was so wretched, I said, “Fuck it. I hate writing. I quit.” I did quit, but I slowly came to realize what I hate is publishing. In fact, I love writing, I’m miserable without it, and breaking up was a dreadful mistake. But before we got
From the interwebs: My book is a romance, not erotica, because you can take out the sex scenes without affecting the plot! If you can take out any scene without the whole plot falling apart, it’s a bad scene. In romance, sex scenes are markers of relationship development. In many books, the characters are intimately
Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark is a Kindle Daily Deal for $2.99, price matched at B&N, Kobo, and Apple. Since I can never remember the name, I call this “the sentence-writing book.” Whether you’re writing letters, memos, homework, articles, blog posts, or fiction, this book is filled with
I had my doubts this day would ever arrive (it’s been a rough seven months in many, many respects), but I finally scrounged up enough oomph to blast through the last 20,000 words or so and reached the finish line of the first full draft of New Book. (I wrote a similar post about 10KH on
The category of Shit Never to Be Done presented today falls under the heading of “show, don’t tell” in the grandest sense of the meaning. A lot of things, frankly, aren’t important enough to be shown, in which case I’m all for briefly telling what needs to be known and moving on to showing the
I hate writing book descriptions. They are not descriptions; they are ads. And they are not written; they are designed following analysis of a target entity to manipulate money out of that target entity. This bothers me for a number of reasons.