Fiction

You’ve got a story idea you’re certain has the potential to impact lives. Where do you start? There’s enough writing advice on the internet to overwhelm you and make you want to quit before you even begin. So let’s simplify things. Writing a story is like building a house. You may have all the tools […]

Writing a compelling story, especially if you’re new at this, can be grueling.   Conflicting advice online can overwhelm you, making you want to quit before you’ve written a word. But you know more than you think. Stories saturate our lives. We talk, think, and communicate with story in music, on television, in video games, in […]

List a handful of your favorite novels and I’ll bet they have one thing in common: an unforgettable main character. From Captain Ahab to Atticus Finch and from Harry Potter to Katniss Everdeen, such memorable characters seem like long-lost friends. Inventing characters and infusing them with the internal strength to become heroic is an art […]

You’ve settled on the idea for your novel. You’ve narrowed it to a sentence or two, and you’re ready to tackle what seems an insurmountable task—developing your lead character. If you’re an Outliner (one who outlines your novel first), it’s time for character development, an endeavor not for wimps. Spellbinding stories feature believable characters who […]

If you’re a Pantser (one who writes by the seat of your pants), you’re not interested in outlining a novel. Trust me, I’m a Pantser myself. I’ve written nearly 200 books, two-thirds of those novels — and guess what? I don’t outline. Oh, I’m not saying I don’t have an idea where I’m going. I […]