This week’s Writing Show, “Editing for Emotional Impact,” presented by James River Writers, was like a cornucopia of craft tips,…
When I was a student in the MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts, I heard Jane Kurtz, the…
For months I’ve been trying to find the right opening for the novel I started in 2013, and I think…
Today’s post is for every fiction writer with a manuscript (like mine) that isn’t quite working. I’ve hit the two-year…
When I was a kid, I wrote letters. Real letters. By hand. Sometimes chain letters. Who has time for that…
This month I read two awesome mysteries, Mary Miley’s The Impersonator, and Kristen Kittscher’s The Wig in the Window, and…
I learn a ton when I interview my characters. Over the years, I’ve compiled a set of questions for them,…
Last month, a friend entrusted me with the privilege of skimming and commenting on her draft of a novel. Her…
Plots. So hard to conceive. So necessary to craft well. You’ll often hear writers talk about the struggle to tease…
My agent nixed the novel I finished drafting earlier this year, and it’s taken me a couple of months to…