The Third Dimension Of Character

March 10, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

I’ve been working on my characters a lot lately. You know, those people who walk around your stories and never end up doing what you want them to? (And no, I don’t mean my character, though that could probably use some work too). Characters are fun to work with. It’s easy to think of them […]

The Morning After Thanksgiving

November 24, 2016.Reading time 2 minutes.

Thanksgiving is for friends and family. It’s for eating turkey, and mashed potatoes, and mac & cheese and stuffing and pie for dessert. For loaded down tables and creaky chairs. For laughter and thankfulness and more hugs than you know what to do with. Thanksgiving is a day when we get to take a break, […]

Momentum

June 19, 2016.Reading time 7 minutes.

I’ve been more productive lately than ever before. As I mentioned in my most recent post, life has been pretty crazy lately, and that’s forced me to think really hard about how I can keep up with the things I care about. Without something to help us keep track of our goals, something to remind […]

Keep It Simple

March 25, 2016.Reading time 7 minutes.

Keeping things simple is one of the most important things a person can do in life, at work, with friends, when making plans, and (shocker, I bet you didn’t think I was going to go here) in writing. You’re probably thinking that I’m stating the obvious, that keeping things simple is intuitive, that your nine-year-old […]

Why You Should Keep A Journal, Author Voice, And Other Stuff

February 7, 2016.Reading time 7 minutes.

I’ve recently come to believe that keeping a journal is one of the most important things a writer can do. Over the years I’ve been on and off about writing in a journal – I kept a journal in high school, abandoned it, picked up it back up in college, started to think it was incredibly […]

Break The Rules

September 18, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

I’ve been trying a new writing method lately, and it goes against one of the main tenets of writing gospel. You know what I’m talking about – the writing gospel, the two, three, five, or ten basic principles that the productive, the famous, the brilliant writers of the world preach to amateur writers who are […]

Sometimes We Have Just Nine Words…

August 21, 2015.Reading time 6 minutes.

“Three Firefighters Killed, Four Injured in Washington State Wildfire.” I was sitting on the metro this morning on my way to work, reading The 10-Point from the Wall Street Journal (which is how I get most of my morning news because I’m too lazy to scroll through a thousand headlines), and the above was the title […]

Take Out Your Headphones And Look Around

August 14, 2015.Reading time 6 minutes.

I have a pretty great commute to and from work every day. It involves a ten minute walk from my apartment to the metro, a fifteen minute metro ride, and a five minute walk from the metro to my office. On the way back, if it’s nice, it involves a five minute walk from my office […]

The Difference Between Premise and Design

July 26, 2015.Reading time 9 minutes.

So I have some pretty bad news… I just heard from a friend that my premise, your premise, your friend’s premise, and everybody else’s premise is, unfortunately, not quite as original as we once thought it was. In fact, I’ve been told that all of these premises are, well, not original at all. I mean […]

The Missing Piece – What Most Antagonists Are Lacking

July 17, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

Every reader loves a good villain, and most writers love them too. If you rack your brain about some of the most memorable characters in books, movies, and on TV, I’d bet more than a few villains pop up. I personally find antagonists fascinating. Sometimes I find them even more fascinating than many heroes out […]