Tales of “writing rules” follow us everywhere, from our creative writing classes to critique groups and writing groups to workshops,...

The great Mickey Spillane once said, “Nobody reads a book to get to the middle.” Well, duh. But really, think about that. Isn’t the...

No matter where you live on this Earth, I imagine your world is somewhat different from what it was a year ago, and also somewhat different from those who live elsewhere, whether they live in the next town over or in another country. However, time and location are not the only things that make up the world around us. Yet, for many writers, when they hear the words “world building” in reference to writing, they immediately think that aspect only applies to fantasy or science f

Avoid Those Small Leaks Because They Ultimately Lead to Major Cracks Ever read a story that had tiny leaks in its plotline? Those...

Oh, the visuals! Now, some of you may have heard me talk about this before, but visuals are more important than you can imagine. Without...

I see post after post on various Facebook pages discussing traditional publishing versus self-publishing, but no one talks about the indepen

As Bob Dylan told us way back in the early sixties, “the times they are a-changin’” and boy are they ever. We’re in the 21st century now, a

Many of the aspiring authors I run into have done little research in the area of publishing. If you ask me, I’d say this is because they are

Have you been told your characters are one or two-dimensional? Perhaps you’re having trouble weaving your character arc or connecting those

How important is pacing? Probably more than you realize. Poor pacing can easily send your book to the donate pile. Or worse, the garbage pil

Quite simply put, your story should be as long as it needs to be. In other words, just because your brother told you he loved your short...

Remember, even your favorite author was once a newbie. Shakespeare, Austin, Dickens... Even Mark Twain once upon a time sat down with pen an