I sent 25 pages of my just-finished manuscript to a contest last week, but not before I’d gone over it carefully. My critique group had reviewed it. My beta reader had gone through it. I went over it a couple more times before I sent it – damn, it looked good. Yeah! Then it was…
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Three Rules for Writing a Novel by Leod Fitz
According to W. Somerset Maugham, “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” I have no idea who W. Somerset Maugham is, or what he wrote, but clearly he was a man of intellect and discernment. No, I know what you’re thinking: You’re thinking, “Leod, you’re a visionary…
The Happiness Advantage – Don’t set a goal without it!
Last month we explored the topic of happiness, and how we can regain the joy of writing we felt when we first started writing. We can boost happiness by establishing a few simple daily habits–very important, because we can think best when we’re happy. Because we naturally store negative events in a deeper, more permanent…
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Non-Human Characters
Birds and beasts, werewolves and vampires, fairies and trolls, rakshasas and dragons and inari okami (and did you think of a western European dragon or a Chinese dragon)? Aliens. Some or all of these can populate your work . . . for good or ill. Liesa Malik and I will be talking about writing non-human…
Do YOU Know How to Find Your Agent Match?
Finding an agent isn’t just about finding “someone” to represent your work. The author-agent relationship works best when author and his or her agent match well on a personal and professional level. Some people prefer to work via email; others like to talk by phone. Some authors want to know about every submission and every editor’s…