I should complete a first draft before deciding on my opening lines. I know I know I know this, but…
This month I’ve been drafting chapters with points of view (POV) that alternate between characters. This is a challenge to…
Through the Osher Institute at the University of Richmond, from time to time my friend, Jan, teaches a class called “In Search…
I’m scared right now. Scared that I won’t be able to write another novel, or at least, not one worth…
Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club begins like this: Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler’s pushing…
My agent nixed the novel I finished drafting earlier this year, and it’s taken me a couple of months to…
In mid-March, as I staffed the James River Writers (JRW) table at the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville,…
Voice. Sympathetic characters. Narrative pace. Dialogue tags. Emotional arcs. These are the sorts of topics we tackled at Vermont College…