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…
Note: A version of the following post was written for Ireland Writer Tours. The week I had been invited to spend in Ireland leading discussions for a group of writers, in September, has been canceled. Ireland is still struggling with variants of the COVID-19 virus; there weren’t enough participants booked to make the week work….
In early June, I attended Lit Fest, presented by Denver’s Lighthouse Writers Workshop. I’ve participated in several craft workshops as part of the Lit Fest offerings in past summers, but this was the first year I decided to apply for an advanced placement course. While I’ve learned from all of my critique groups and workshops—with…
As a mystery novelist, I tend to be cavalier about murder—most authors are. The typical fiction writer thinks nothing of crafting a scene of mayhem. Death comes easy. Books on writing and writers’ workshops traditionally refer to eliminating unnecessary characters, wonky plot-lines, or even unruly sentences as “killing your darlings.” As media consumers, we’ve viewed countless…