What is History?

By Clare Langley-Hawthorne So I have an idea for a new book and it takes place partly in the early 1980s and it suddenly strikes me that, th...

Let Your Characters Live and Breathe

James Scott Bell @jamesscottbell Among my books on writing is a 1919 title, A Manual of the Art of Fiction , by one Clayton Meeker Hami...

Amazon and Goodreads, Sittin' in a Tree...

I do not visit Goodreads as often as I should. There are readers out there who spend hours on it, and yes, I probably should as well, but I ...

Reader Friday: Desert Island Film Festival

Okay, you're stuck on that proverbial desert island. No one around, but for some strange reason there's a movie house and a trained ...

So much for women's lib...

by Michelle Gagnon While watching the season finale of GIRLS, there was a moment at the end where I was seriously tempted to hurl something ...

Know Your Audience

Nancy J. Cohen This past weekend, I had the privilege of speaking to the Southwest Florida Romance Writers in Estero, Florida. Up to 25 mem...

On the road again

By Kathryn Lilley I'll be flying most of the day today, praying for a lull in the wacky weather that's been plaguing the East coast ...

Yes, and...

by Boyd Morrison One of the classes I’m taking during my Hollywood experience is the basic level improvisation course at ...

How to Write a Short Story

James Scott Bell @jamesscottbell A novelist friend recently asked, What is it that defines a short story? What's the key to writing one?...

Africa!

By Mark Alpert By the time you read this, I’ll be in South Africa. The Alpert family is going on safari. Our main destination is the Okava...

Reader Friday: Casting Director

When you write, do you imagine the movie version? Who would you cast in the lead roles in your current novel? 

8 Ways to Add Layers of Depth to Your Scenes

By Jordan Dane @JordanDane   I’ve been working with college-aged writers recently and noticed that many of them rush a scene by sending it t...

Keeping your reader on a need-to-know basis

By Joe Moore Along with plot, setting, dialog, theme, and premise, your story is made up of characters. Hopefully, they’re interesting and...

Killing off good characters

WARNING: SPOILER ALERTS By P.J. Parrish Yesterday, I killed the dog. I didn’t want to do it but it had to be done. The creature had been han...

Walking Gore

by Clare Langley-Hawthorne I've been up to my eyeballs in boxes over the last two weeks as we unpack and settle into our new house in Co...

The Perils of Pure Pantsing

James Scott Bell @jamesscottbell There are pansters. And then there are pure pantsers. Pantsers (derived from the idiom " seat-of-...