I just taught a class on  Beginning Pages recently, so I’ve been thinking a lot about first lines.  Stephen King had something to say about the magnitude of a novel’s first line: “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story,” he said. “It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about […]

Margie Lawson Writers know the cautions about backstory. I’d bet every basic how-to book for writers warns against overwhelming readers with too much backstory. Backstory usually kills pacing. Backstory usually kills momentum. Backstory usually kills your chances with an agent or editor. What is backstory? It’s story history that the writer needs to know to […]

Alex Bledsoe World building is a common concern among fantasy writers, since so much of what we do depends on the reader believing IN the setting. You can have the best story and great characters, and torpedo them all with an unconvincing and inconsistent setting. Of course, you can also go too far in the […]

I love fortune cookies. From cracking them open, to pulling out the slip of paper, to reading the fortune, to eating the sweet crunchy thing—I love everything about them. I always smile when I find saved fortunes (a recent "found" cache led to this post) whenever I go through an old purse or drawers in my […]

Colleen Story  Does using social media make us depressed? Scientists seem to think so, which is a little…well, depressing. Writers (and other creatives) are encouraged to use social media, after all, for marketing purposes. Many of us might have even stayed away completely if not for the gentle nudgings of our editors, agents, writer friends, […]