by Margie Lawson

What's behind a laugh?

When people laugh, we almost always pick up what’s behind their laughter. We pick up nuances that add interest and depth and power.

We can usually tell if they think something is crazy-funny.

We can usually tell if they’re laughing at themselves.… Read the post

Margie Lawson

We’ve probably all read these sentences about silence, or variations.

• The room went silent.
• We all quit talking.
• Everyone was silent for a couple of minutes.

And we’ve read these types of sentences about staying silent too.

• He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Margie Lawson

Hmm…  Cold hard stare.

Have you read that descriptor before? Maybe more than once? More than a dozen times?

What about variations on these lines:

She narrowed her eyes to slits.

His eyes popped open as wide as saucers.… Read the post

 Margie Lawson

How often do you get fresh…on the page?

Writers are beyond crazy busy getting their story on the page, developing goal-motivation-conflict, deepening characterization, sharing subtext with body language and dialogue cues, making choreography work, as well as covering the 3756 other dynamics they need to consider to make their writing strong.… Read the post