You’ve Got the Chops, Now Write a Break-Out Book

You’ve Got the Chops, Now Write a Break-Out Book

As an agent and author, I spend a lot of time at conferences meeting writers looking to break into traditional publishing.  And so many of these writers are THIS close to getting published. Meaning that they’ve been working hard on their craft, putting in the ten...
Fun with Story Structure: 10 Frameworks for the Novel

Fun with Story Structure: 10 Frameworks for the Novel

Structure is the underpinning of the novel, the pillars that support the narrative from beginning to end. Without a strong structure, your story can fall in on itself, like a Jenga puzzle in freefall. But that doesn’t mean structure has to be boring. Here are 10...
Writerly Wit and Wisdom: The Best One-Liners from David Baldacci, Alex Finlay, Lisa Gardner, John Grisham, Charlaine Harris, Jennifer Hillier, David Morrell, Walter Mosley, Neil Nyren, John Sandford, Lisa Scottoline & Lisa Unger

Writerly Wit and Wisdom: The Best One-Liners from David Baldacci, Alex Finlay, Lisa Gardner, John Grisham, Charlaine Harris, Jennifer Hillier, David Morrell, Walter Mosley, Neil Nyren, John Sandford, Lisa Scottoline & Lisa Unger

For me, the coolest part of writers’ conferences is the off-the-cuff words of wisdom you hear from the great crime writers of our time. I take notes—and at the recent ThrillerFest 2025 I gathered some great advice from some master storytellers. Here’s a quick round-up...
Hope is the Thing with Feathers

Hope is the Thing with Feathers

Metaphor is the lifeblood of language. And no one knows this better than poets. As the month of April comes to a close, and with it National Poetry Month, it would behoove all of us writers, poets or not, to remind ourselves of the power of the metaphor. Here’s a...

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