Saturday Morning Version of “The Hero’s Journey”

Two words: hand sock.  You’ll see. Really, we need to take storytelling more seriously than this… which in an ironic twist means, this IS serious.  Even when it’s hilariously rendered. It’s also potentially confusing as hell.  Which is why I write about it using what I believe to be more accessible, clearer terminology and modeling. […]

When Words Get In Your Way

Okay, that title is my way of creating some sort of linkage between the brand/mission of this website and the content of this particular post.  I get about three emails a day from SEO guys telling me I suck, so this is for them. Then again, the post itself is really for you.  We’re word […]

A Case Study in Concept: A Story on the Brink

One of my favorite story coaching clients is a guy named Kalvin.  He’s prolific, he’s brought me a half dozen story ideas at various stages of development, each offering something tasty with significant upside. In each case, the process has given him an expanded and illuminated platform to continue to grow his story.  That’s why […]

Motivation for Writers… Wet or Dry

How hard are you working?  I mean, really working. Not just working hard… but working smart? “Welcome to the grind.” Sometimes it’s tough to get up and write.  Or simply to square off with the keyboard at any time of day. Athletes have coaches.  We, on the other hand, are quite alone with the task […]

The Absolute, Non-negotiable Truth About Writing and Selling Your Fiction

Imagine a room somewhere, a hotel conference center perhaps, full of 46 professional types who have flown in to commiserate with their esteemed peers.  They preen and sip coffee as they eyeball each other’s name tags, casually dropping names while waxing eloquent and wistful about the lack of great stories out there. They are literary […]

Story Physics: The Interview

This is a bit of a mash-up between a guest post and an interview.  I’m not interviewing Randy Ingermanson, he’s interviewing me about my newly published writing book, Story Physics.   The guy’s a Ph.D., so the word “physics” had him at hello. It’s an except from Randy’s monthly Advanced Fiction Writing Ezine, which is the most popular digital publication […]

It’s Not “What.” It’s “How.”

 Enriching the ‘Dramatic Question’ There is an entire banana boat full of stuff that, by the time you stamp “final” on your manuscript, you need to know all about. My personal contention is that the more of these literary nuts and bolts you suspect you know before you actually begin writing it – otherwise known […]

An Interview With ‘The Sluts’

The Sun City Sluts, that is. Three talented women who shared a dream, a few bottles of wine and a fantasy — revenge, and otherwise – that they needed to get out of their very pretty and slightly wicked heads. So they wrote a novel.  Together.  Planned it, nailed it, lived to tell about it. […]