It’s a decision many authors struggle with, and it’s a perennial question at writing conferences: How do you decide whether to use past tense or present tense in your fiction? The answer is, of course: Use whatever feels right for you and your story. Even though that’s the correct answer, it’s a tad vague and…
With a certain loosening of restrictions we may have more external demands on our time, much as we had pre-pandemic. Remember the Before Times? Yes, there was a Before Time and there will be After Times. Or maybe, depending on your comfort level, you’re still hunkering down. No matter, if you’re so inclined, writing, be…
A writer pal told me she wasn’t coming to Colorado Gold because RMFW members were too divided among traditional and independent writers. Too much friction. She didn’t feel welcome any longer. Maybe I’m as clueless and naïve as a newborn, but I just don’t get it. I don’t feel it. I don’t sense it, either….
Last spring I finished what seemed like the “book from hell”. Every chapter felt dredged from the depths of my creative soul. Like getting water from a well running dry, I could only scoop up a bare teaspoonful of story at a time. It got worse when two thirds of the way through I realized…
If Rachel didn’t win the writing contest this year, she might have to kill someone other than the darlings in her manuscript. Please excuse the hyperbole; I only use it here to demonstrate a point about openers. The first lines of a story are not the place to hem and haw. In today’s world, with…