By Margie Lawson and Tiffany Lawson Inman A big lovey Thank You to Laura Drake for inviting us back to WITS. Surprise! It’s a mother-daughter duo blog! What happens to characters when they are in a high emotion scene? They experience emotion.  Duh. What happens if the writer keeps the POV character in their head, […]

By Sharla Rae One of the things we've discussed in our critique meetings is the tendency all writers have to repeat certain words and phrases. “Echoes” is a term I’ve heard applied to frequently repeated words. Read your chapter out loud, and that’s exactly what they sound like. Common Causes of Echoes: Helpful Echo-Zapping Sites […]

by Erika Marks First draft. Talk about two words that manage to strike both excitement and fear in the hearts of all of us who write, yes? After having published three books and now deep in the middle of my fourth, I’d like to think I’ve got this whole first draft thing sewed up. Except, […]

by Jenny Hansen One of my favorite speakers on writing is Jennifer Crusie. For some reason, she makes sense to me...as if she has an expressway dug directly into my writing mind. Stephen Cannell (creator of The Rockford Files) was the man who etched 3-Act Structure on my brain, but for turning points it was […]

Laura Drake is back for the second segment of Fearless Pitching! If you missed the first post, click here. Before we get on to THE day, a bit of philosophy to remember when you look in the mirror that morning: If you don't get a request for a partial, The Gatekeepers are not rejecting YOU. […]