Case Study: When a Concept is TOO Big

I had trouble titling this one.  You’ll see why when you read it. To suggest that a concept is too big is to imply, perhaps, that the writer is reaching for something that feels he/she is ready to tackle, the story they were born to write.  But concepts, on any scale, are available to anyone, […]

Guest Post: The Burden of Your Novel’s Opening Scene

A guest post by noted author and blogger C. S. Lakin. Think of your novel as a gold mine, with a mother lode resting deep in the heart of a mountain. In order to get to that treasure, you have to build a sturdy framework as you dig into all that dirt and rock. You […]

Is Your Story Worth Saving?

Of course it is.  It’s yours.  Nobody can nor should they tell you it’s not worth the time to try to save it. But when it isn’t ready to come out into the light, when it doesn’t really have a shot as is — because on this website and in my story evaluations, this is […]

Case Study: Heroes and Villains and Readers Who Can’t Tell the Difference

Let’s call him Joe. Joe is another of those courageous writers who consented to running their coaching Questionnaire answers (the Kick-Start concept/premise evaluation), with my feedback, here on Storyfix .  He turned me down at first, uncomfortable with the notion that someone out there might want to “borrow” from his concept. I assured him this […]

The Road to Publication: One Novel’s Bumpy Ride

Today’s post is the story of a novel’s journey from inception to publication.  This is an excerpt from my new ebook, “The Inner Life of Deadly Faux,” which I introduced (and offered… for FREE) in the post just prior to this one.  (You can get it here: PDF DF Inner Life.) If you’ve published a […]

Free Ebook, a Unique Learning Opportunity

Sometimes writers write books about writing.  Stephen King comes to mind, among many others. Sometimes — much rarer — writers write books about a specific book they’ve written, or someone else comes forward to write about that book (John Steinbeck, for example, as well as biographies of iconic authors that discuss specific works). But I’m […]