“If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison With Free Chocolate coming out TOMORROW, I’ve been thinking a lot about that quote. If it wasn’t my series, The Chocoverse would still be exactly the kind of thing I’d jump to […]
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” — Oscar Wilde “I cannot remember the books I’ve read any […]
I just want to offer a quick public service announcement. Writers, is your work backed up somewhere? If no: rectify that immediately. I know you never think a computer crash is going to happen to you, but everyone thinks that until it happens to them. Even new computers can have bad hard drives (I actually […]
I recently had a writer ask me which one of his many ideas he should follow up on. There is no easy answer to that question, because it all depends on the writer’s motivation. Is he wanting to know which one is the most marketable? Well, I can’t exactly predict the market in two to […]
“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.” – Stephen King (not the first person to say it, but perhaps the most ominous) It’s a common piece of advice to give to beginning writers, and it’s been attributed to everyone from Faulkner to Wilde. Slate.com […]
One of my favorite books from the Children’s Lit classes I took in college was Treasure Island. Stevenson stuck with me as an example I wanted to emulate, because nothing in that book is wasted. Every piece of foreshadowing pays off, every bit of character development comes into play by the end, and the father-son […]
We’ve been talking character arcs at SNW, so I wanted to bring out once special kind of arc: the villain arc. A good villain can really elevate your story, so take the time to fully develop all sides of your antagonist. And then think about what makes him dynamic. The Backstory Arc Usually, the main […]
So this may get a little introspective, but I was thinking a bit today about self-awareness in fictional characters. Too little, and your character feels cold and unlikable, too much and they feel whiney and overly sensitive. Why is it such a delicate balance? Maybe some definitions would help. What is self-awareness, psychologically speaking, for […]
I’ll admit it. I am a Pinterest addict, heading rapidly towards 10,000 pins. I make some sort of Pinboard for every class I teach, and every project I plan – not to mention those I’ll probably never get around to. While the most obvious thing for a writer to do with Pinterest is marketing, I […]
On Friday, we had a meeting with the new/returning Work Study Employees for the kids/teen camps. I asked them all to tell each other their majors. When they’d gone around the room, one of them jokingly asked, “So what’s your major.” “Life,” I said. And it’s true. I finished my last round of formal education […]
