The Importance of Choosing the Right Narrative Voice — by Brian Finney
I’ve now published two novels and I still don’t know whether I’m a plotter or a pantser. I’ve tried starting with just an idea, only to see the idea exhaust itself in the opening sections. That’s what happened with my third novel that I have begun working on. So I...
Fight for my Right to a Beat Down — A Story of my Life
If I don't count the Great Elementary School Riot, I've been in one fight in my life. Let me explain. No, there's no time for that, let me sum up. I have a vague memory of a massive park riot playing out among a large group of elementary school kids. I was one of...
Hate vs Love — by Lily Lawson
Hate leaks from lipsits powerful punch poisoning all within its wake.Wasting weighty words on trivial pursuits.Love flows from the heart,soothing lotion pours in caressing rivers,healing wounds, seeping into souls.Hate’s army of admirers,keen to ingratiate themselves,...
8 Author Mistakes You Don’t Have to Make
As an author of two digital marketing books and a yet-to-be-published sci-fi thriller, I'm no stranger to author mistakes. I may not have collected them all, but I'm trying. Someone has to learn these lessons the hard way. May as well be me. Every first-time author is...
One Of Us Has To Go — by Katja Schulz
Chapter 1: I Have a PlanJuly 2014My mobile phone buzzes in front of me on the bare windowsill. One message. Lock me in at 11, as usual, Sonja writes. Same message she sent yesterday at this time. Same as the day before. And the day before that… She reminds me every...
30 Movie Soundtracks You Need to Hear Right Now
Until recently, I never realized how important a good movie soundtrack is. Over the past decade or so, I've come to realize that the songs and score chosen for and created for a film do as much to make a great movie as the writing and directing. Carefully chosen songs...
Four Steps to Using Dialogue to Drive Your Story — by Cheryl Burman
Dialogue is important When I read a piece of prose, whether it's a short story or a novel, and the dialogue is done well, my heart gives a little skip of excitement. (I know, an exciting life!) Here is a writer who has taken the time to learn their craft. And it...
Grounded for Life — A Story of My Life
Faithful readers of this blog may remember a story of my life a few weeks back that resulted in me getting grounded. Well, that grounding wasn't the end of the story, it was just a good pause-point. But instead of picking up where we left off there, let me provide a...
Writing A Good Story is Like Marketing — by Jack Oswald
1. Writing A Thriller is Like Drafting A Marketing Plan! Most movies start with very fast-paced action. A few seconds into the glorious destruction of the set, in billows of smoke and cordite, we get a glimpse of what our main character is made of. Ian Fleming’s James...
The Finalist Final Draft I Could Ever Finally Finalize
There is a running joke in the writing community about final drafts. Or, more specifically, the final, final, final, FINAL draft. That's because writers are never quite finished with their work. Though I have argued that sometimes we think we're done--we're not. As a...
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