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 […]

And You Shouldn’t Even Bother Me with Your Stable Characters by Kimberly Brock Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of Netflix with my husband – particularly British crime shows. Well, actually, anything British. I don’t know why. But this blog is not about that. What it is about is the fact that I am always, […]

Angela Ackerman Conferences are full of opportunities to learn, network, and grow. This summer I attended a local 3-day event called When Words Collide, which is a conference for writers and readers. Over 700 people attended, and every hour there were many different craft, marketing, industry, and genre-specific presentations to choose from. A fantastic event! […]

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 […]