On Writing
Writing Nature
When I was a very young woman, I heard a writer say that when you set a story in a given place, you should be able to name every bird, every tree, every flower in that setting. I remember thinking, “Uh oh.” As an Army brat who moved at least once a year, I barely got...
Writing About the Pandemic—or Not?
This is the question I hear all the time from writers of all levels of experience. The uncertainty of life during the pandemic has affected everyone in the book business—writers, agents, editors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, reviewers. We publishing...
Writing Lessons from Lin-Manuel Miranda & Company
We all have our heroes. Lin-Manuel Miranda is one of mine. In case you’ve been living in a cave, Miranda is the Pulitzer Prize, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning creator and original star of HAMILTON: The Musical and IN THE HEIGHTS. So when I heard that he was...
YOUR NONFICTION IS SHOWING: What Nonfiction Writers Should Learn—Or Unlearn—to Write Good Fiction
If you write nonfiction by day—news stories, blog posts, law briefs, sales copy, collateral, tech writing, etc.—then making the transition from nonfiction to fiction holds some special challenges. As an agent, editor, and writing instructor, I teach a lot of aspiring...
PLOT THAT NOVEL! A Baker’s Dozen of Plotting Tricks & Tips, Courtesy of Atwood, Christie, Doctorow, Fitzgerald, Sorkin, and more
Start with characters. “Action is character.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald Start with action. “Get your character in trouble in the first sentence and out of trouble in the last sentence.” ― Barthe DeClements Put your characters in motion. “All fiction is about people,...
OBEDIENCE TRAINING FOR WRITERS: What living with dogs teaches us about writing
Dogs and writing. Writing and dogs. Hard to say which comes first in my life, since we have three rescue dogs and the mystery series I write features former MP Mercy Carr and her retired bomb-sniffing Malinois Elvis. I’ve also written a memoir...
FINISH THAT FIRST DRAFT! A Round-Up of Tips & Tricks, Courtesy of Hemingway, Lamott, King, and More….
Write badly. “Get it all down. Let it pour out of you and onto the page. Write an incredibly shitty, self-indulgent, whiny, mewling first draft.” — Anne Lamott Write quickly. “I believe the first draft of a book — even a long one — should take no more than three...
Rules of Engagement for Writers
My father died last week. The Colonel was the one family and friends invariably went to for advice, and he was always more than happy to hand out his own brand of wisdom, battle-tested in combat and inspired by his personal holy trinity of Jesus, Patton, and Napoleon...
When All Else Fails… PLOT JUMPSTARTERS
“When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.” --Raymond Chandler Whether you outline first or simply plunge in by the seat of your pants, there may come a time when you realize your story engine is failing and you need a jumpstart, fast,...
Join the pack
Your first treat is a free Mercy and Elvis short story—available nowhere else. Then, about once a month I'll send exclusive updates, invitations, and more pack-only treats.