Fiction

You can use a variety of literary devices to add conflict and tension to narrative fiction. But few make readers work harder than the unreliable narrator, a device that, true to its name, allows the storyteller to take readers on a wild goose chase as… [Continue reading below]

How do you keep readers riveted to the end? Conflict is the engine of fiction. Readers love it. Dianna and I recently celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary and agree on almost everything. That’s a gift. On the page? Boring. The more conflict, the more interesting… [Continue reading below]

You love to write and have been told you have a way with words. So you’ve decided to give writing a try—creative writing. Problem is, you’re finding it tougher than it looks. You may even have a great story idea, but you’re not sure how… [Continue reading below]

Acquisitions editors and agents can reject some manuscripts within the first two pages. If they aren’t hooked immediately, they move on. That doesn’t sound fair — and maybe it isn’t — but that’s the reality we writers face. Even if you’re self-publishing and avoiding the… [Continue reading below]

Why do we remember characters like Huckleberry Finn, Oliver Twist, Frodo Baggins, and Harry Potter years after we meet them? Page-turning novels feature believable characters with human flaws, people who grow heroic in the end. So how do you conjure up characters like that? First,… [Continue reading below]