Two weeks ago I took a workshop through International Thriller Writers from Lisa Unger who was describing her career as an author, including the 20-something books she’s written and I was suddenly struck by the fact that given my age and my career trajectory, there’s no way I will ever write that many books in…
My father and mother planted me in the middle of the dense woods in the Adirondack foothills. My childhood was spent staring up into maples, birches, oaks, firs, and even some plucky apple trees that had scrambled onto our land from nearby orchards. I grew up believing that trees embodied wisdom and that likewise, leaves…
The Short Story: I write short stories because that’s how stories come to me: vivid, brimming with life, but short. I’ll be frying an egg or replanting a philodendron or washing a window and voila—a scene or story pops full-blown into my head, complete with backdrop, character, dialog, bit players, and a bit of arc….
Last month, I wrote about story beginnings (“Top 10 Ways Not to Start a Story”). A reader asked if I could expand on why those story beginnings may be weak choices, beyond just overuse. (Thanks for the suggestion, author Gloria Lesher!) A story’s first pages make promises to the reader. As an author, you must…
Synopsis. The mere mention of the word cues the impulse to run and hide or, at least, defer facing the synoptic music. Yet, there’s no getting away from the reality that a synopsis of your novel is an integral part of any submission and, along with a query and sample pages, is all an agent…