One of the first tenets of successful novel writing is that without conflict, you’ve got no story. Conflict is what keeps the reader turning pages. Without it, your story comes to a halt while you clear your throat, meander around aimlessly, and stare at the wall. In his craft book Conflict and Suspense, author James…
Tag: novels
What’s your story?
This month I’m thinking about content marketing. It’s all the rage. It’s one of the key squares in Buzzword Bingo – Marketing Edition. It’s the thing you do in social media where you put out interesting and relevant content to attract customers for your products. I wasn’t able to write that with a straight face….
Time
I’m in the process of cleaning up Gary Reilly’s ninth Asphalt Warrior novel before sending it off to our eagle-eyed editor for the thorough polish. If you don’t know, Gary Reilly was a close friend of mine who had one story published in his lifetime—in 1977. That story, The Biography Man, was published in The Iowa…
Research status? Confusing, cluttered, and chaotic!
Research, both noun and verb, means to investigate for facts—explore, analyze, delve into. But what’s next? I overheard an author, I think Susan Spann, say that by writing a rough draft first, she then knew what research she needed. A quarter of the way through self-editing my final draft, I tested Ms. Spann’s idea. By…
More Notes on Discoverability
Last month I attended the Nebula Awards for the second time in my life. Last year I discovered that I had no idea who most of the nominees were. This year, while I knew more of them, I still didn’t know a significant number. My personal relationship with storytelling explains a great deal, most notably…