The Storyfix Saturday Night Special

A story coaching offer, this weekend only (because I have some open slots): get me your $50 Kick-Start Conceptual Review submission by midnight on Sunday (Nov. 3rd), and I’ll deliver a 24-hour RUSH turnaround (normally a $25 upcharge) for no extra cost. The fine print: I’ll send the questionnaire out to you within a couple […]

Help Wanted: Hiring Fiction Writers Now

This is the opportunity of a lifetime.  Write novels and screenplays for money. Publish your books and get invited to all sorts of book signings and conferences and bookclub gigs.  Quit your day job and live your dream.  Have cocktails with John Grisham and Nora Roberts at the National Book Awards banquet. Hiring one out […]

A Paradoxical Perspective on the Creative Process

Some people believe that the best — even the only — way to engage with the story development process is, basically, to not have one.  To just begin.  Dive in, see what happens. To — and  this one makes me crazy — just “let the characters speak to you.” Okay, whatever floats your critique group […]

The Fragments of Once Whole Things

A guest post by Art Holcomb “The beautiful thing about a mosaic is that it is best when made up of the broken fragments of once whole things.” Your characters are very much like thatWhether we want admit it or not, each of our characters is such a mosaic, made up of those conscious pieces […]

“Deadly Faux”… Launched… Pitched… and Promoted with a Killer Spiff for Writers Who Love a Case Study in Craft

My new novel was released today, from Turner Publishing.  If you’ve experienced such a day yourself, you know the feeling.  And if you haven’t… keep reading, I have something that might help make it happen for you, sooner rather than later. “Deadly Faux,” is the sequel to my 2004 novel “Bait and Switch” (the reissue […]

Case Study: Lift Your Story from the Ashes of Mediocrity

Another writer has stepped up to share her experience from the receiving end of the story coaching experience.  I suggested it to her because it presents an all-too-common situation: answering the question “what is your concept?” with a thin and/or familiar premise, rather than something conceptual. This one thing can make the difference between publishing, or […]

What Every Writer Must Know About “Hero Fact”

A guest post by Jennifer Blanchard In my work as a writing coach, I come across a lot of stories where the hero isn’t being heroic. Either the hero is being saved by someone else or there’s not enough conflict to force the hero to actually step up and earn the title. That’s a serious […]