Part 4… of a 10-Part Series on Story Craft

About the workshop I’ve been promoting here… check at the end of this post for news about a recent MAJOR TUITION REDUCTION Part 4: Your Hook Breaking bad, Good, or Otherwise. This isn’t just for the sake of clarity.  Within each of the four contextual quartiles of a novel – each quartile with its own context, […]

Part 3… of a 10-Part Series on “Story”

Please note: this short intro appears prior to each of these ten installments.  If you’re read it before, skip down to the next subtitle in larger font. Also, to read previous posts in this series, refer to this menu of links (be sure to return to this page to keep reading in sequence; that said, […]

Part 2… of a 10-Part Crash Course on Story

Please note: this short intro appears prior to each of these ten installments.  If you’re read it before, skip down to the next subtitle in larger font. Also, to read previous posts in this series, refer to this menu of links (be sure to return to this page to keep reading in sequence; that said, […]

Part 1… of a 10-Part Crash Course on Story

Welcome to the 101 of writing novels. One of the reasons writing a great novel is so challenging is that there is no obvious starting place.  Is it a character?  A premise?  A theme?  A single sentence that won’t get out of your head? While that argument continues to rage, what remains in less dispute […]

The Workshop You’ve Been Waiting For… the Workshop You Can’t Afford to Miss

A Personal Invitation to the Ultimate Novel Intensive Workshop—a writing event that will change your life!   Learning to write a story, specifically a novel, is a lot like life. There is all manner of theory, approach and professed truth out there for the taking, with more than a few loud evangelists for each and […]

The “Why?” Behind the Inevitability of Story Structure

I love a good challenge.   Almost as much as I disdain a misunderstood debate, the kind in which one party can’t get outside of themselves long enough to see that they’re already arguing for the opposition. Last year I did a post for the Writers Digest website, explaining why (my opinion) “just write” is […]