We authors can be overwhelmed when deciding how much money we should spend, and where, in order to get customers to spend money on our book. Let’s be candid. Most new and independent authors set aside idealistic expectations of initial profit and focus on exposure, ratings, reviews, and the ability to quickly turn these aspects…
After listening to a speaker tout the merits of character growth, I pondered its importance in a short story. I published quite a few stories before realizing I hadn’t considered whether any of my characters actually “grew” or not. I puzzled over my working cadre of short stories and asked myself if any of those…
Plotter. Pantser. Is your writing style ingrained? Can you change it? I’ve wrestled with this question since the beginning of my career, and I know several other authors who’ve had the same struggle. I started out as a pantser (which I prefer to call “writing into the mist” or intuitive writing) mostly because I didn’t…
A common misconception about chaos is that it’s chaotic, meaning the object in question is out of control, disorganized, irretrievably confused. Every writer has been there—the letters swim on the page like aimless tadpoles, every word you’ve written screams “YOU SUCK!” You get the drift. But, despair not! It turns out “chaos,” as used in…
I’ve touted the Scriptnotes podcast before. Yes, it’s focused on screenwriting. (I do not write screenplays.) But I enjoy listening to John August and Craig Mazin talk about stories, storytelling, and all things related. A recent episode (#501) was titled “Patterns of Success.” John and Craig talked about a variety of factors and traits and…