WRITING TIPS

Chekhov’s Gun

For every stimulus, you must have a response. For every response, you must have a stimulus.

When we write novels, we don't include every word spoken, every action taken, every plan proposed. We include only those elements...

Make It So

• • Possible: May or can be; chance
  • Plausible: Seemingly worthy of approval or acceptance
  • Probable: Likely; more evidence for than against

When writers construct fiction, we’re building a world that exists, at first, only in...

Planning Your Book Series, Part One

Want to write one book?
How about three or more?

It’s no secret that series books are favorites among both readers and writers. Readers anticipate spending more time with people and places they’ve grown to love, eagerly...

Planning Your Book Series, Part Two

Asking the Right Questions

Fiction is really about questions: posing them, complicating them, delaying the answer, and then arriving at a satisfactory resolution. For the series author, two sets of questions must be considered....

Planning Your Book Series, Part Three

Number of Books in a Series

Traditionally, literary series take one of two forms – pre-planned or free-form and market responsive. Usually when the author and publisher agree to work together on a series, they establish in advance how many books...

Critique Partners

Writing is an incredible privilege and can be truly satisfying, but it can also be a lonely job. We sit in our chairs and daydream, we scribble, we hunt and peck, and then we pound out. At the end (or...

Catch an Editor’s Attention

Can dog food help you sell your work?

A friend told me that Walmart’s dog food was once called plain old Walmart Dog Food. Equal in content to most, it was passed over by consumers. Then Walmart's marketing...

Quick Reminder – Point of View

POV = Point of View

When you're in a character's POV, you know not only what he is saying but also what he is thinking, feeling, planning, etc. If you are not in that character's POV, you...