Tag: Writing Process

Conflict, Inside and Out

External conflict on its own rarely stands up as being big enough, emotional enough or important enough. Yes, external factors are important in keeping a story moving, but internal factors are the driving force behind character arc and development, and our pathways to making two-dimensional, imaginary characters human. Real. 

Don’t Start at the Beginning

As wonderful as my character’s tragic backstory or hushed conversation might be, none of that matters an iota if I don’t get the beginning right.

New World, Old Tech

Despite the capacity to write a story on a dozen different devices and applications, I will always print my manuscripts.

Writing When It Hurts

Sometimes, we are faced with the everyday human suffering that can throw a wrench into even the most distinguished of plans. Crossing our t’s and dotting our i’s cannot prevent life from taking its course.

Writers Write (Forever and Ever and Ever)

The truth of the matter is that writing has become – or perhaps always been – an industry where working too hard, too much and too often is only the first step to success.

The Fanfiction Question

What’s the big appeal of writing what some consider fiction to fall on the wrong side of the fair use question? Why spend hours – and hours and hours and hours – playing house with another author’s characters? Well, there are many answers to that question.