I wrote a book that was published in 2008 by Writer’s Digest Books called Bullies, Bastards & Bitches, How to Write the Bad Guys in Fiction. In it I’m urging writers to take risks when they write characters; to know their character’s moral stance; and to consider who is the best woman or man for […]

writing sorts through the gnawing grief, the pains of being human.

I know and you know that our writing rarely needs adverbs, especially those that end in ly. Instead of walk slowly, plod. Instead of walk quickly, stride. Disgust is a whole ‘nother matter. If you write she looked away in disgust. Or “Stop that!” she said disgustedly, the reader isn’t going to get a sense […]

“Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed? Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds […]

…First of all, everybody has a memory when you were eleven years old and you were walking down a particular street on a certain day, and the trees—there was a certain wind blowing through the trees and the way that the sound of your feet made on the stones as you came up the drive […]

  Your protagonist —and usually your viewpoint character—is your reader’s portal into the story and the story world. The more observant he or she can be (curious, dazzled, apprehensive all work well) the more enticing the story world. A protagonist needn’t be a genius or even educated (think Huck Finn),he does need to be accessible. […]