When I outline, I generally end up with two different kinds of entries in my notebook. The first type of entry is for a highly detailed chapter, usually one where something really big happens, maybe an action scene, or a character death, or some other pivotal turning point in the life of the story. The … Continue reading
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I’ll take fear any day
Most of what I write is scary, and most of what I read is scary, too. Let’s not talk about what scares us, rather let’s talk about how it scares us. I’m going to use two different terms, and neither in the clinical sense. FEAR vs. PHOBIAS. I have both of these, and my phobia shows up in … Continue reading
Characters don’t know what THE END means
Since being lucky enough to land an agent this spring, I’ve often taken stock of the journey. Today, I want to talk about the most enduring aspect of my writing: my characters. I’ve written five manuscripts, and my characters have never learned the meaning of THE END. And I’d have it no other way. Each … Continue reading
The match, the stone, the spark.
The match, the stone, the spark … Sometimes you feel slow. Sometimes you stand in the middle of a room and can’t even turn your head fast enough to keep up with the people around you, let alone get your legs going to follow them; a haze is pumping through your veins. This is where I … Continue reading
Let yourself win
For those who have read anything of mine (blog or otherwise), you know I like to use non-writing examples to get a point across, and today will be no different. Besides writing, my other big hobby is running. I have no interest in doing physical harm to myself, so a marathon is out of the … Continue reading
The demon at Mach 1 is you
In 1947, there was a demon in the sky. And it was guarded by an impenetrable wall. Pilots and scientists alike called it the Sound Barrier, and pilots and scientists alike thought it a hard barrier. A wall in the sky. Hit the wall, and the plane will crumble. One after another, American pilots squeezed … Continue reading
Letting that first manuscript rest in peace
About a year ago, I typed “End of Book One” on the last page of my first draft of my first manuscript. It was the culmination of decades of thinking and rethinking a story that started with a poem I wrote in high school. For decades, “maybe I should write that as a novel one … Continue reading
