Readers lose interest in your story when the danger on the page never presses on the one place your hero least wants touched. Picture the movie Jaws, but the shark bumps the boat once and everyone says, “Well, that was unsettling,” and then goes back to lunch. Or picture StarContinue Reading
If you want to become a better writer, you’ve probably heard this advice a hundred times: just write more. So, I followed that advice. I wrote and wrote, draft after draft, year after year. And that improvement? It wasn’t really happening. There’s a difference between becoming a better writer andContinue Reading
If you’re afraid your story won’t keep readers hooked, that’s good! It means you care about your reader, which is a good first step. I’m reading a novel right now. It started out okay, but somewhere around chapter five, I noticed something. I was skimming, just moving my eyes acrossContinue Reading
When you’re not sure your story will work, it’s easy to assume that uncertainty means something is wrong with the story. There’s a moment in almost every book where the writer gets scared for a very good reason. They’re not sure it’s going to work. And that’s a moment whenContinue Reading
Your dream book may be the very thing keeping you from writing the real one. The most dangerous version of your book may be the beautiful one in your head. The book in your head is like a snow globe. You can hold it up and see the whole worldContinue Reading
Getting writing feedback is a little like cooking a meal in the middle of town. Imagine Emma, a kind middle-aged woman, standing in the middle of Central Square one day making soup for the people she loves. She’s happily stirring in vegetables and meat and her favorite spices when suddenlyContinue Reading
When writing becomes a lifeline, it starts to mean something deeper than sales, recognition, or whatever rung you thought you were supposed to be climbing next. I was listening to a Tom Jones interview the other day, and it really stayed with me. My mom used to play his recordsContinue Reading
Third person self-talk may sound a little ridiculous at first, but I’m going to tell you why I use it and why I think it could help you, too. When I was working on my novel, The Beached Ones, I soon figured out that my main character was a motorcycleContinue Reading
Is your inner critic holding you back? Picture this. There’s a baby in the living room. She’s a little unsteady, but she does that brave baby thing. She pulls herself up, takes two wobbly steps, and then — boom — falls right back down. Now, imagine this. Instead of everybodyContinue Reading
Writers misdiagnose their books all the time, and when they do, they often start fixing the wrong problem. Imagine somebody is seeing a doctor because of chest pain. First the doctor says it’s just stress. Then maybe acid reflux. Later on, anxiety. The patient is told to get more sleep,Continue Reading
If you quit books too soon, or feel tempted to abandon them somewhere around chapter two or three, it usually doesn’t mean the idea has failed. Instead, it means the writing process has changed, and your brain needs something different now than it did at the start. A lot ofContinue Reading
by Ian Smith Setting: A courtroom. Dimly lit. One defendant in the dock; not a person, but a Brain. Charge: Theft…not of money, but of life. BRAIN: (In the defendant’s stand, looking round and sneering at IAN SMITH, a man on the opposite side in the witness stand.) JUDGE: (whoContinue Reading