Oct 18, 2023 | On Writing
scene: a sequence of continuous action in a play, movie, opera, or book. One of the biggest mistakes I see in beginning writers’ work is the failure to dramatize. The dreaded telling, rather than showing. Writing in scenes helps you make sure that something is...
Sep 20, 2023 | On Writing
Can you really teach someone to write? That’s the question that has been debated since the first aspiring writer asked a successful author to show them how to tell a good story. Indeed, teaching and writing often go hand in hand. Many famous authors have supported...
Mar 15, 2023 | On Writing
Selling stories is not much different than selling anything else. As a writer turned acquisitions editor and now literary agent, I learned that the hard way. It’s not enough to write a great story; to sell that story, you have to be able to milk its selling points and...
Sep 28, 2022 | On Writing
We are a people in search of a hero, always. And readers are a people in search of a heroine, always. One of the biggest problems I see in manuscripts—confirmed by editors when they pass on projects—is the protagonist. Your protagonist should be compelling and...
Jul 27, 2022 | On Mindfulness, On Writing
Everyone always talks about how hard it is to write. And it is hard. There’s the terror of the blank page, the three steps forward, two steps back torture of plotting, the trial and error of character development—not to mention the tyranny of the impossible...
