In 1980, I moved from Los Angeles to Denver and took my second job in journalism, working for The Rocky Mountain News. A friend worked there. He was someone I knew from my youth in the suburbs of Boston. My friend, Phil Reed, turned me on to mysteries. And I started reading them with abandon….
For weeks, a friend of mine has been stressing about her deadline for her next book. She mentioned that she felt she needed to finish the first draft by the end of the year to make certain she could turn the book before it’s due on July 1st. I was startled. At most, it takes…
When an idea for a book first comes to me, I generally have a fairly good idea of who my characters are and what their conflicts and challenges are going to be. But I don’t always know their names. Occasionally, they arrive with a name that instantly fits them. More often I have to give…
No, not the setting of your book. The setting in which you write. When I started writing fiction, I could write anywhere and any way. Longhand or on a keyboard. At work or in a hotel while traveling. By myself or with co-workers or family in the same room. In the early morning, late at…
Every editor and writing instructor will tell you how important the beginning of a book is. It sets the stage, draws the reader in, and likely influences whether the reader will buy (and read) the book at all. Lately I’ve been thinking about the importance of endings. My thoughts were drawn there partly because I’m…