Let’s get one thing straight: Unless it’s a biography on a saint,
readers don’t want angelic characters. Readers want characters with
demons, with messy, haunted pasts that keep them from getting the
present quite right. ...READ»
I’m announcing it here. I’m saying it now. While commercial
publishing will continue to work for mainstream authors, celebrities,
and political figures with built in audiences, gone are the days of the
new author being ...READ»
Treat Writing Like a Job
“When I get a minute”; “When I put the kids to bed”; “Any chance I
get”; “When I’m on vacation”; “A couple times a week.” Sound familiar?
These vague promises to write are the ...READ»
It may seem like a small point, but before you sit down to record
the events of your life, you should know: Are you writing a memoir or
an autobiography?
In casual conversation, most people use the terms ...READ»
While I have to admit to being new to assessment and evaluation, I
do believe it to be a piece of the puzzle that we can get excited
about. It is an integral component that helps build a brand or a
program to its tipping ...READ»
The now-famous second line of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield reads, “To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born.” Now, David Copperfield
is fiction, and fiction now written more than a ...READ»
By now, everyone is familiar with the James Frey fiasco of 2007:
Frey, a bestselling memoirist, was outed for making up many of the
details in A Million Little Pieces, the supposedly true
account of his experiences during ...READ»
In the writing world, literature tends to be separated into two
camps: plot-driven and character-driven. But even character-driven
literature needs a plot to drive and sustain it. Otherwise, readers
will jump ship. The trick in ...READ»
Let’s talk about two (fictional) twin brothers, adopted by different parents as infants. Now 40, both Larry and James are doctors, married to their high school sweethearts, and fathers of three kids each. Their lives seem to ...READ»
It’s easy to assume that writing dialogue in fiction is easy; after
all, despite e-mail, text messaging, Facebook, and Twitter, most of us
speak every day. But dialogue can also be the one element in your novel
that prevents ...READ»
We’ve all heard it before: Art is a business. And let me tell you
that’s the truth!! While I loved my university training (BFA, Theatre),
I spent 10 years getting over the anger that they never taught me how
to generate an ...READ»
Some writers have an exceptional ability to use language to convey an idea. Others are brilliant with metaphor. Still others excel at dialogue or description. My strength is truth. Coming from an acting background where I ...READ»
I’m almost embarrassed to say that our company is thriving in this down economy. The last three months have been the best ever by more than 10%. What’s the secret? One word: TRUST. In this environment people are looking to ...READ»
Dead plots are actually a symptom of dead characters. Too many writers have characters that are not alive, and yet the feedback they receive from editors, friends and family is related to the plot. The plot is rarely the issue. ...READ»
I just read a wonderful posting by an agent I’ve been following in the blogosphere named Jessica Faust. Her blog entry Rolling With the Punches mirrors the internal changes that form the daily landscape inside our own company. ...READ»
I just read a posting from a writer who was afraid to rewrite a chapter. They couldn’t muster the courage to do it and wanted to know if it was okay to just redevelop the plot around a chapter that didn’t work so they could ...READ»
Writing your logline is an imperative step to writing your “back of the book” and other marketing copy that will inspire audiences to buy your work. Here are the steps necessary to create an exciting logline!Step One: The ...READ»
I developed this four-pronged system years ago and have taught it to actors, writers, fashion designers, dancers, interior designers and musicians. If you’re trying to generate income from your creativity, you have to consider ...READ»
Here’s the reality: your first words are a loaded gun that is going to shoot one of two people in the face: your reader or YOU! What do you with your first sentence? With your first paragraph? With your first page? With your first ...READ»
A one dimensional character is one who does not have an arc throughout the story. They are the same at the end as they are at the beginning. Many characters in a typical novel or screenplay are one dimensional. They fill small ...READ»
Most of my work has gone through 15 to 20 drafts before I send it to an agent. It also gets proofread 3 to 5 times, 2 of which I typically pay for. If there are roadblocks that get in the way of the story, you're shooting yourself ...READ»
Wow. This topic really causes me to think back to my entire career; first as an actor and then as a director/producer and writer. In my own career, confidence, or the lack of it, has been the major killer coupled with trying too ...READ»
Realistic dialogue is not necessarily good dialogue. Yes we all say "well" and "so" and "um", but I get enough of it in the real world. I go to the theatre, see a movie or read a book to escape the real world. Good dialogue is concise ...READ»
Finding your audience is an art, not a science. You aim for a general ballpark, but there comes a point where the ball is going to fall where it falls. Consider what you're writing and start to daydream about who you are talking to. ...READ»
Randy Ingermanson is known as the “snowflake guy” for his approach to story development. His approach quite closely mirrors the approach I have designed over the last decade and what we use when writing fiction at Writers of the ...READ»
