Susan Spann In the immortal words of Don Schlitz (made famous by Kenny Rogers): “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away … know when to run.” Smart words for any gambler, but equally valid for authors. Unfortunately, too many authors don’t have the courage […]

Donna Galanti When I was a kid I used to sneak into people’s coat closets when visiting with my parents, hoping to find a Narnia world on the other side. I would huddle in the dark, beneath winter coats, imagining an older world long gone as I hid among musty wool. If I sat long […]

John Peragine   When a fellow writer finds out what I do for a living, they usually have a hundred questions. They span from how do I capture someone else’s voice, to how do I find leads. A common question I get is: "Does it ever bother me if that I don’t get my name […]

Julie Glover When I first began writing novels, I longed to pen my prose like the literary greats I’d read in high school and college. Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Edgar Allen Poe, Leo Tolstoy, etc. were my beacons of beautiful prose. But alas, their light flickered on me. Because I couldn’t seem to get two […]

"I love you" are pretty powerful words to say—and to hear. But there are usually a lot of words before your characters hear those words, and maybe even more words before they believe them. There are plenty of things our characters can do, actions they can take, to build the emotional level for their love interest […]