When I take a step back from my reactions to the churning of this never-ending election season, I realize it is providing great fodder for my writing. Here’s what I mean. During the past few months, we have some revelation of some low-down dastardly dealings by one of the candidates. Opponents pounce, declaring him/her to …
What Trump and Hillary Have Taught Me About Writing Read More »
Last week, we took a look at two ways to get unstuck. Today we’ll look at three more Third, aim high. I think about Olympic athletes. None of the ones I heard interviewed said his life goal was to become high school champion. Or state champion. Most of them said they knew they wanted to …
Once upon a time there was an ambitious young executive—we’ll call him Lance. He was doing all he could to climb the corporate ladder: he’d work late and volunteer for special projects. The one thing he was missing was face time with the CEO. Lance well understood that the political game was just as important …
Much of this last year has been consumed with the details of settling my late brother’s estate. Among other tasks, I had the dubious joy of having to prepare not one but two tax returns: one for the time during 2015 when he was alive, the other for the rest of the year. Thank God …
World Building from the Inside Out, Part 5 All good things come to an end, and so does this series on world building, based on Janeen Ippolito’s excellent blog post. The fifth question to pose my protagonist is: Who or what would she die for? Why? If no one or nothing, why not? This is …
World Building from the Inside Out, Part 4 Each week, I’m enjoying this exploration into my heroine’s mind, thanks to help from Janeen Ippolito’s great blog post on world building. This time the question hits on a topic I hadn’t really thought about. What is she addicted to, or what is one thing she could …
World Building from the Inside Out, Part 3 This is the third week of exploring the world building questions from Janeen Ippolito’s blog. This week’s question about my main character is an interesting one and opens up all kinds of potential for subplots. How would she deal with an unexpected pregnancy? In the …
As I’m trying to finish my first (and very rough) draft of Stinging Power, I’m a little troubled about my characters. They seem to be flat, almost like cardboard, with a few flashes of life here and there. The trick will be to make them live and breath, and become people my readers love. The …
“It’s sure to change your life.” “You’ll get amazing results.” “Your friends will be impressed (or jealous. Or whatever).” We’ve all heard the amazing claims of marketers, trying to convince us that if we just part with a little of our money, they can help us to solve a nagging problem. Too often, their claims …
Telling a riveting story, populating it with characters who speak and act, that part isn’t so hard for me. Playing with words to paint just the right image or capture exactly the perfect nuance is the fun and joyous part of writing. It’s creating a place where my imaginary friends live and breath, the setting, …