Shannon Donnelly I teach a Show and Tell workshop online and everyone comes into that workshop wanting to know how to show more—they’ve usually been hit with the advice to ‘show don’t tell’. However, there’s a place for the narrative in any fiction. What most writers really need to look at is how to tell […]

David Teague and Marisa de los Santos Before we partnered to co-author “Saving Lucas Biggs” and the forthcoming “Connect The Stars,” we worked in far-flung parts of the literary universe. Marisa began as a poet, with the volume “From the Bones Out,” and eventually moved into literary fiction with such novels as “Love Walked In” […]

Sierra Godfrey Remember when you booked a flight to Marseille, France for research purposes? You toured Fort Saint-Jean, strolled around the Vieux Port, and lunched on bouillabaisse at a charming little café in Old Le Panier? Or how about the way the fishing boats sounded when they chug-chug-chugged into the harbor and the fishermen poured […]

Heather Webb You’ve been DYING to hear back from that critique partner, editor, agent, friend. You stalk your inbox. When the document finally arrives, you break into a sweat. What if they HATED everything? Then you think, naaah. That’s not possible. Your pages are so shiny you’ve gotta wear shades just to read them. So […]

Shannon Donnelly Backstory—the background needed to enrich a story—is one of those things that can drive any writer nuts. How much is too much? When do you reveal more? When do you hold back? Too much backstory can sink a story—because you’re not moving the story forward. You’re giving background, and while that can be […]