22
09, 2015
Pondering my next writing project
My favorite questions tend to start with “what if.” Lately, however, this writer has been asking himself, “What now?”
20
03, 2015
It’s important to look back occasionally while on the long road
Yesterday morning, WordPress congratulated me on my blog’s third anniversary. There was even a fancy little trophy icon by the announcement.
30
12, 2014
Should you care if readers care about your characters?
The more I think about it, the more a term like “character-oriented” seems superfluous. Characters are but one element of a story. Like setting and plot, they are essential ingredients of a story. But are they any more important than the rest?
18
09, 2014
An old short story for Throwback Thursday
Back when I worked in a newsroom, a colleague of mine was wont to say, “Everyone loves old photos.” I believe the Throwback Thursday (#TBT) trend serves as further proof of mankind’s fondness for looking back.
31
10, 2013
Something scary for Halloween: my poetry
Despite having written between one and two million words to date, only a handful of them were spent in pursuit of poetry. And whenever I did venture from the comfort zone of fiction, it was typically because a teacher assigned it.
18
09, 2013
REJECTION!
Nothing is certain except death and taxes, according to Benjamin Franklin. But if you’re a writer, you can add rejection to that list.
22
08, 2013
Building a better book title
Titles represent anywhere from a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of words. They have to be worthy of all that hard work you put into your short story, novella or novel. And they must be marketable.
24
07, 2013
And we shall call him…George
Any dabbler in sword-and-sorcery fantasy has faced the challenge of naming a monarch or two. Far be it for me to disparage other namers of kings.
4
03, 2013
The ‘cons’ of writing collaborations
Whenever I imagine my future novels sitting on a bookshelf, I see my full name on the spine. Mine and mine alone.
5
12, 2012
Storytelling can take many forms
Some of the characters I’ve enjoyed writing about the most are an inch and a half tall.