Does that title give you the heebie-jeebies? Does the idea of imposing structure on your scenes make you want to run and hide? I felt the same way once upon a time, but that was back in the days when I wrote the beginnings of many novels, got bored with every one of them, and… Continue reading 5 Things I’ve Learned About Scene Structure
It's always about the reader's experience, never about what makes writing easier for me.
Last week, I blogged about conflict, and I told you that when my understanding of conflict finally dawned, it was one of the most profound moments of my writing career. The day I really began to understand motivation was another. I'd learned all about motivation before I really started writing seriously--or so I thought. Turns… Continue reading 5 Things I’ve Learned About Motivation
Every once in a while, it's fun to do something different, don't you agree? Because I have a September birthday, I usually grow introspective during the month of August as the end of another year of my life draws to a close and I get ready to adjust to being a year older. The other… Continue reading September #Critique Special
Last week, I shared five things I've learned over the years about creating fictional characters . I decided to continue in that vein today, this time talking about conflict. I've spent the past 24 years or so teaching classes and conducting workshops on writing, and I don't mind telling you that when I had an… Continue reading 5 Things I’ve Learned About Conflict
It's been a while since I took the time to write an actual blog post here. After more than twenty years of teaching workshops and mentoring other writers, I felt as if I'd said all I had to say on the subject of writing and figured anybody who read this blog had already heard it… Continue reading 5 Things I’ve Learned About Creating Fictional Characters
Good Wednesday morning, everyone. I've undertaken a project to revitalize, revise, and otherwise rejuvenate about 20 books from my backlist to which the rights have reverted back to me. One-by-one, I've been getting them up on amazon.com and available once again after a bit of languishing in my publishers' warehouses. That means I've been doing… Continue reading Links from Tuesday 6/6/2017 & Revisions
It's Tuesday morning and a gray, gloomy day at my house. I hope it's better weather where you are. I came across some interesting articles on writing, publishing and creativity on Monday and I shared them on Twitter and LinkedIn. If you didn't see them on one of those social media outlets, I've gathered them… Continue reading Links from Monday, 6/5/2017 & Saggy Middles
Good Monday morning, all. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that you were able to either lounge around like a slug for 48 hours or accomplish everything you wanted to accomplish. Here are links to tweets shared on Friday, June 2, 2017. Arts and crafts, anyone? Get out your old magazines, some scissors… Continue reading Twitter Treasures from Friday, 6/2/2017
Good Wednesday morning, everyone. It's June 1st and I'm wondering where the first half of the year went. Has it flown by for everyone, or is it just me? Before you know it, we'll be talking back-to-school and seeing Christmas ads. Before we get that far, here are links for Thursday's tweets on my @DancingOnCoals… Continue reading Thursdays Tweets – 6/1/2017
Dancing on Coals 