Special Offer to Writing/Critique Groups

You may think us blogging/guru types wake up every morning wondering how we can sell more stuff to you.  I hope not — that’s pretty cynical — because it’s not true. If we’re doing this right, we wake up every morning wondering how we might deliver something of value.  There are theories about that, unique […]

Why Structure ISN’T the First Thing You Should Think About When Planning Your Story

All this talk about story structure… it’s easy to get the wrong idea.  Because in the sequence of revelations and midnight ah-hahs and pure flashes of genius that come with the territory of writing a novel or screenplay, structure doesn’t come first. It doesn’t even come second.  But eventually it must come.  Or the campaign […]

“How to Write a Great Novel” – Why the Wall Street Journal Got it Wrong

I gotta admit, this pisses me off.  And if you buy into the first half of that headline, it should piss you off, too. Because somebody’s gonna read last Fridays’ Wall Street Journal article entitled, “How to Write A Great Novel,” and they’ll to go back to their stories and emulate the supposed strategies of the […]

Why You Need to see “The Box”

Two elements of my approach to teaching story have always been on the controversial side.  Wouldn’t have it any other way – if you want vanilla, take a community college writing class.  If you want to publish, stick around here. First, I advocate that novelists study movies, and screenwriters study literature.  And second, with regard […]

Introducing New York Times Bestselling Author April Henry

April Henry is the author of eight mysteries for adults and teens, including the New York Times bestseller Face of Betrayal, co-written with Lis Wiehl.  Next year will see the release of her second in the series, Hand of Fate, as well as Girl, Stolen, a stand-alone teen thriller that will be the lead title from […]

A Joke For Writers

Joe’s mother was a writer.  She’d never published anything, but she loved nothing more than to sit down at a keyboard and pour her dear heart out onto the page. Trouble was, her keyboard was attached to an old manual typewriter.  The kind you see displayed in the window of an antique store. Joe finally […]

Quick Tips, Coming Attractions, NaNoWriMo Sanity and Other Musings From the Literary Cheap Seats

On Trusting the Process I was up late last night working on a post for you about why planning the second half of your novel seems more difficult than planning the first half, which several readers have recently reported.  Couldn’t make the second half of that post work, which is ironic, and what leads me […]

Announcing the Launch of “Story Structure – Demystified”

“Story Structure — Demystified” is live. I’m excited to announce the publication of my new ebook.  The preliminary reader response has been nothing short of astounding, and humbling.  Even for me.   Here’s just one of them: “I’ve purchased and read at least ten books since last spring on writing and I’ve found nothing yet that […]