I chose this entry to crit this month because, at its core, it sounds like an interesting story, and it could be a compelling beginning. But it's buried in adjectives, adverbs and asides. I can tell this author slaved over this. But believe it or not, we can try too hard.  Black = original Red = […]

I'm ready for more first page submissions! Just copy and paste your first page into the body of an email, and send it to: La********@*************ks.com I can't promise to use yours - I'm choosing them mostly for what lessons they can teach. But please, submit! I thought it would be fun this month to show […]

Happy Friday the Thirteenth! This has the possibility for being a very good day for you, for me, and for all of us. Hop on over to our Writers in the Storm Facebook Event Page to read about and participate in today's event: Write Up A Storm. You can write for an extended stretch or hop […]

Writers in the Storm is having its annual “Writing Event” on Friday, April 13.  Write Up A Storm is a one-day sprint-writing bash on Facebook, designed to motivate and sustain your writing throughout the day. Even if that day job impinges on your time, you can participate before work, during lunch and after hours. We’ll be […]

This month I chose an ‘en media res’ beginning. They can be fast-moving and titillating – but they're not easy! You need to clearly lay out the stakes, and since you don’t have time to flesh out a character, (and make us care about them) at least give us a rough idea of who the […]