Suzanne Purvis A new year full of writing possibilities, hopefully including the most exciting possibility: sending out your submission package to agents and/or editors. You’ve finished your novel, revised, revised, revised, and polished. Your query letter is tantalizing. Now you're in need of the last, and most important, piece of your submission package--the synopsis. Oh, […]

Kathryn Craft Turning Whine into Gold If Facebook posts are to be trusted, all a creative writer needs to be productive is coffee, chocolate, and wine. Rather than flow rich with ideas and possibilities, the creative blood of many writers is a biochemistry experiment gone awry. You already know why we rely upon caffeine, nutrient-poor […]

Jamie Raintree The holidays are a time for slowing down and reflecting on the past year. They're also a time for thinking about the year to come. Whether or not you set resolutions, no doubt you've got ideas about what you'd like to accomplish in 2017 and the bad habits you want to leave behind […]

James Preston “I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” We’ll come back to that in a minute. Story is important. What we do is important. My guess is you believe that or you wouldn't be reading this blog. I had that knowledge driven home one year on vacation. Welcome to another installment of […]

Angela Ackerman Stories should be a true experience for readers. Like a gourmet meal, we want there to be more to them than just what is seen on the surface. This depth can be added a number of ways—through subplots, character arc, subtext, theme, and symbolism. Of them all, symbolism is one of the simplest […]