"Disneyland! That's the answer." (Fiction 101 -- Drop your reader into the action immediately.) My wife and I went to Disneyland recently. The trip was fun, of course, but it was also a revelation. Suddenly, Nancy turned to me and said, "The essay you are working on for Writers in the Storm! This is it! […]

 Piper Bayard A character arc in fiction, as in life, is the path by which a character transcends his deepest fear to achieve greatness. Without this evolution, the reader has no reason to travel with that character through the story.     To create this character arc, we must know our character’s greatest fear. According […]

Susan Spann The year is drawing to a close, but our series on anthology contracts is going strong. Today, it’s time to say “show me the money” - and look at some of the different royalty structures in the anthology world. Some anthologies pay the contributors royalties, while others offer a flat fee, and still […]

Writers are all about the process. Whether you’re a pantser or a plotter; if you write early in the morning or whenever and wherever you can; to music or in silence; with your favorite duck PJs on inside out and the must-have mug of coffee, we all have our quirks. And we swear by those […]

Margie Lawson Surprise! Today’s blog is on wrangling time, not words. But don’t stop reading! I added examples from an ARC of THE DIRT ON NINTH GRAVE, by NYT Bestseller, and Immersion-Grad, Darynda Jones. I bet you’ll agree, the examples are super-stellar! I promise to keep the wrangling time part of the blog short. You’ll […]