I have a book on my shelves titled Animal Husbandry that makes me smile every time I catch sight of it. Someone, likely thinking I’d find it apt because I grew up on a farm, gave it to me at…
Ever since the first movie reel rolled, pundits have decried the end of the novel as we know it. To be sure, the novel has changed remarkably in the last fifty years and yet we only need to look to…
“Why isn’t this in the past tense?” Was the question. “By definition, all stories occur in the past.” I was stumped. There I was sitting in my writing workshop, years into a novel about which I had thought of absolutely…
The crime is elusive. Despite the clues — a character transformation not quite earned, too hasty of a consequence — most of us are quick to dismiss the evidence. A writer is often the last person to realize that a…
You are going to get it wrong. It is as fundamental to the craft as rejection, procrastination and gravity. A pursuit that requires you to put yourself into the heart and brain of another human being will lead you to…
“I just want to understand what the character is feeling.” If you’re playing writing workshop bingo, this statement should be the center square, guaranteed to come up in every class when discussing a work’s emotional apex. Sometimes off-base, yes, but…