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…
I’m big on beginning novels in media res (in the middle of things), meaning jumping into a scene…
Today’s post is for every fiction writer with a manuscript (like mine) that isn’t quite working. I’ve hit the two-year…
The worst part of the writing process is the blank screen, the white paper, the emptiness, the limitless possibilities. The best…
I learn a ton when I interview my characters. Over the years, I’ve compiled a set of questions for them,…
This past February while writing a new scene, a character showed up, whispered to my protagonist, “We have safe houses…
Last month, a friend entrusted me with the privilege of skimming and commenting on her draft of a novel. Her…
During one of JRW’s twitter-chats (#jrwc12) with upcoming conference speakers, we were posing questions for Kristen-Paige Madonia, author of Fingerprints…
Last week I popped Katherine Applegate‘s middle-grade novel in verse, Home of the Brave, into my car’s CD player, and…