You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
I’m helping a friend work on a story right now, and it’s a rather strange one. It’s the story of a handsome, idealistic young man, just out of college, who starts a company. His goal is to bring down corrupt governments and help the poor and homeless around the world, so even though he has […]
Sagging Middles
There comes a time when you’ve turned the corner on your story opening, and you feel like you’ve got it down right . . . and then . . . you go into your middle. Typically, by the time that you’re into the middle, you’ve gotten a lot of your character development down, your settings […]
How to Decide What Goes in Your Scene
Very often I see new writers who can write exciting prose on a line-by-line basis, but when I start reading their stories, I soon discover that the story itself is weak, and that the author just has too much going on in the scene. The author’s descriptions may wander, so that the story loses tension, […]
Worthy of Success
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had several of my writing students report some great success in attracting agents and winning contests, but I’ve heard from several other fine writers who seem . . . as if their resolve is flagging. They’re sending out manuscripts but not getting the quick success that they crave. […]
Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
My wife once came across a story about a gorgeous writer (as in a writer of gorgeous prose) who complained that she couldn’t sell her work. She asked an author what she should do, and he suggested that she take a class or two on selling. The woman became indignant and said, “I’ve worked all […]
Defining Yourself as a Writer
Years ago, I sat down to write and just didn’t feel up to it; I woke up with a backache at 3:30 a.m. (due to an accident), and couldn’t return to sleep. I’m sure that many of you have those days. How do you handle them? Me, I sit down in my chair, and I […]
How to Write Powerful Scenes
Very often as a reader, I’ll come across a story that is well written in many regards: The characters have strong voices. The setting is energetically created. The action progresses in a logical and emotionally satisfying manner. Yet the story will feel dead, empty. I can almost always spot the problem quickly: The author has […]
Accepting Responsibility for Your Titles
It’s fairly common for editors to want to change titles. Sometimes a title might be too much like that of another book. For example, one of my novels had the working title of Berserker Prime. I turned it in without realizing that Fred Saberhagen had used the same title five years previous. This kind of […]
Beware the Critical Eye
Most new writers join critique groups, but have you ever wondered if you’re spending too much time in one? Here are some problems that I’ve noticed. Most critique groups, over time, will morph into social clubs. The authors who join them tend to become friends, and as the months pass, it seems that the authors […]
Writing, Your New Normal
Today at the Writers of the Future workshop, I assigned a dozen new writers to go finish a short story in 24 hours. For some of those writers, in fact for most of them, this seemed like a pretty big challenge. As an old pro, it seemed more like another workday. Maybe the problem is […]