Watching the Sausage Being Made

  Every book began with a first draft. And they were all flawed, riddled with typos, plot holes, cliches, and bad ideas. Even the greats. Even your favorites. Every once in a while you can find early drafts of big, important books, and they are almost always...

It’s Always Personal

In fiction, as in life, it’s important to distinguish the motivations of the individual from those of the organization to which that individual belongs. This isn’t about good and evil, nor is it trying to make apologies. It’s just about recognizing the messiness of...

Genre Bendre

If there’s one thing agents and marketers hate, it’s a book or movie that doesn’t have a clear genre. It’s simple to market a fantasy, just slap a half naked barbarian and a dragon on the cover. Science fiction just needs a rocket ship or a robot, romance just needs a...

Embrace Your Voice

The thing that makes me fall in love with an author is the voice. The way that a writer uses language, chooses the words and the pace and the tone. If I like the voice, I’ll read about the characters doing their taxes. Plenty of writing sites and lots of writing...

The Only Rule That Matters

There is a ton of advice for the aspiring writer. You used to have to take a class or buy a copy of Writers Digest to be talked down to, but now that we have an internet, it’s everywhere. And lots of it is in the form of lists of “rules for writers” or “nine things...