Laurie Schnebly Campbell What does braiding a book mean? Off the top of my head, that seems like an easy question. Since a braid has three parts, a braided book has -- hmm. Goal / motivation / conflict. A hero / heroine / villain. Emotions / actions / thoughts. Description / dialogue / narrative. A […]

Laurie Schnebly Campbell We all want interesting characters. People who fascinate us. People who make readers feel intrigued. People who do more than sit in the garden and gaze at the grass. And we've all read books where, even if the characters aren't spending every minute gazing at the grass, they aren't doing much else to make […]

Laurie Schnebly Campbell EVERY story is an adventure. We already know these characters will come face-to-face with all kinds of excitement, challenge and danger--whether that danger involves dastardly villains or a reluctance to fall in love. A lot of readers are thrilled when a story’s main adventure involves bullets, pirates, dragons or floods. Sometimes all […]

Laurie Schnebly Campbell What makes people talk about your book before they've ever read Page 1? Well, maybe they remember you from high school and can’t wait to see if they’re featured on page 28. Or maybe they heard the publisher paid a billion-dollar advance to get your manuscript. Or maybe they saw that Josh […]

“The Tricky Part” of writing is different for every author, but hardly anyone is good at both dialogue & description. Laurie Schnebly Campbell talks about the skills required for each, and how to discover where your strengths lie. And, did we mention that there is a prize for a lucky commenter? That contest closes Thursday […]