It’s all cannon fodder. Everything you do, are, and think about goes into your fiction. Why? First of all, you can’t help it. You are...

I recently came a cross a note I slipped into a novel file. Every now and then I pen a few lines about how the writing life is going, and...

With all the demands of beginning a novel, it’s easy to overlook setting and milieu. It can feel like background. But attention here is...

Sure, I read for pleasure. But as a professional writer, I find myself gleaning lessons from great books. If you write, I’m sure you do...

As we all know, writers have a lot of things to work on, to learn, and to maybe worry about. However, there are some topics that are,...

I think we need a new definition of the stereotyped character. The old one: round vs. flat just isn’t working anymore. It’s not about...

Writing is fraught with uncertainty. Double that for starting a new project, much less your very first work of fiction. Even experienced...

Do you have an antagonist in your story? Not every novel embodies an antagonistic force in a person, someone who works directly against...

I’m always tempted, before throwing a book at a wall, to figure out what went wrong. Often it’s boredom from tepid scenes. Yet some...

I have three stories in mind today, mulling over why two of them fail for me, and one succeeds. Bottom line, character appeal. One of the...

I’m sorry to answer this question in a way that may be perceived as snotty and selfish: But almost never. Well, if you are an aspiring...

From Jessica Morrell’s “The Writing Life” Newsletter, wherein she holds forth on the glories of summer and not seeing writing as...

I just read an article about daydreaming that claims it’s good for you. Wow. Is this like being told that dark chocolate will firm your...

OK, folks, you didn’t take me seriously about Ken Rand’s The 10% Solution. I have my ways of knowing. Listen, though: this is an editing...

Good discussions going around based on Fantasy Magazine Managing Editor Tempest K. Bradford’s post on Jeff Vandermeer’s Ecstatic Days. I...

Yours truly expounds on Living and Writing From the Heart along with Elizabeth Bear and Catherynne M. Valente Interviewed by Amy Axt...

The other day a writer who had only a few short stories published confessed to me that he felt rather worthless. All this work and no...

As those of you know who get my writing e-newsletter, Sumo the cat has strong opinions about writing. Here are a few of his special tips,...

Think of all the things a piece of fiction must have. Who can ever get it all right? For example, we’re told to excel at plot, character,...

Here is my list of things I wish no one would ever say to me again. What’s on your list? * When are they going to make a movie out of...