Article Archives — Author

The Essential Equation: P = T2 (Plot equals trouble squared)

by James Thayer

Stephen King says, “Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestseller.” When we find a plot, how can we know if it’s worth spending a year or two developing and writing? It’s a tough question.

But here is a key technique that will help our plotting: readers do not want true life. Someone who has paid for a novel does not want a replica of his or her own life presented in a novel. She wants an escape from her life. Excitement, not routine. The extraordinary, not the ordinary.

James ThayerJuly 14, 2010Comment

Dashes or Parentheses?

by Cherie Tucker

Both parentheses and dashes show readers that you have interrupted the train of thought to tell them something right now. They have more drama than mere commas, but they must be handled correctly to work. Let’s take them one at a time.

Parentheses offer non-essential information that is like a whispered aside to inform the reader at that precise moment something the reader may not know.

Cherie TuckerJuly 14, 2010Comment

Babies, Butterflies, and Books: Faith in The Unknown Factor

by Jennifer Paros

When I was pregnant with my first child, from the get-go it became apparent that some of my habitual ways of thinking were not going to work so well during this nine-month process. For example, my inclination to keep a watchful and somewhat controlling eye was going to have to be reigned in. As my expanding abdomen did not come equipped with a picture window, I was not going to be able to keep checking the baby. I would have to assume all systems were a go. Of course, the occasional sonogram was an opportunity to take a peek, but ultimately, this was going to be a journey of trust. Not something with which I was all that comfortable.

Jennifer ParosJuly 14, 2010Comment

Why I Review

by Joan Frank

Plenty of writers make a point of exempting themselves (perhaps recusing is the better word) from reviewing other writers’ work. I understand this.

They (the self-recused) can’t expunge the painful awareness of how long it takes to make a book; how much of their own internal organs were invested in their books (along with all the glass shards); how hopelessly personal, therefore vulnerable to outsider assessment, the project will always be.

Joan FrankJuly 14, 2010Comment

The Cost of Writing

by Erin Brown

“I must write it all out, at any cost. Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is being conscious of living.” —Anne Morrow Lindbergh (American writer and aviation pioneer).

As writers, we all know that writing is art, it is life, it is passion! It is beyond cost, beyond measurement, worth any price! Not.

Erin BrownJuly 14, 2010Comment

Why Backstory Makes for Boring Characters

by Jason Black

If you’re my kind of writer, you’ve probably spent hours on understanding who your characters are. You may have worked up your characters’ histories in endless detail. You may know what their first job was, who their first kiss was with, and what it is that they secretly want to be when they grow up. You’ve done it so you can understand what makes these people tick, what their emotional baggage is, and how they’ll respond in any situation.

Jason BlackJuly 14, 2010Comment

How Do You Feel?

by Cherie Tucker

If you are upset, you feel bad. If you have Novocain in your fingers and can’t tell that you are touching the keyboard, you feel badly. Many people confuse these two, so let’s clear this one up. (Brace yourself. There may be grammatical terminology.)

The verbs that describe how our other senses work, e.g., taste, smell, etc., are not as easily confused. For example, consider the sense of smell.

Cherie TuckerJune 14, 2010Comment

The Pre-Made Decision

by Jennifer Paros

The other day, I was given an electronic device that included several cords, along with an AC/DC adaptor. I dislodged all from the packaging and plugged everything in, but when I went to plug the AC/DC adaptor in, could not, as it was “male” and the jack was not “female”. Although I could see it was wrong, I tried again. Repeatedly, it would not fit. Finally, I returned the adaptor to its packaging, resigning myself to using batteries instead. This was the reality, after all.

Jennifer ParosJune 14, 2010Comment

Passive Voice Hides Your Characters

by Jason Black

Ask anybody in this business whether you should use a lot of passive voice sentences in your writing, and they’ll say “No, of course not.” Ask them why, though, and you’re likely to hear only vague and useless answers, like “It’s awkward.” “It’s boring.” “It’s emotionally cold.” “It’s dry and academic.” That’s all true, but none of it helps you understand the real problem:

Passive voice hides your characters from view.

Jason BlackJune 14, 2010Comment

Want Not

by Laura Munson

People ask me how I could have written fourteen unpublished novels and not given up. I have a simple answer and it’s not pretty: obsession. Writing is my way of life, and sometimes my way to life. It’s my practice, my meditation, my prayer. I’ve chosen fiction because it has elbow room. Even though fiction is distilled reality—realer than real—there is still the chance to climb out of your shoes and engage in the act of empathy, which I believe is at the core of every writer’s heart. Empathy, coupled with the curiosity to put empathy into motion, and of course the love of words.

Laura MunsonJune 14, 2010Comment

Self-Editing: A Cheat Sheet

by Erin Brown

One of the most important talents you can hone is your gift for self-editing. Now, I shouldn’t be giving away any secrets because this is how I make my living, but I am willing to sacrifice for the cause—the greater good of the worldwide writing community.

Of course, the following suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg, but these tips will at least give you a head start. The first tip I have for you is to avoid and delete repetition. If there’s any tip that I want to emphasize, that tip is that you want to avoid repeating the same word or phrase in close proximity.

Erin BrownJune 14, 2010 Comment

Fending Off Filters: A Key to Vivid Writing

by James Thayer

How can we get readers to sink into the dream? How can we craft a story that is so compelling that the reader forgets she is in a chair in her den, and is taken to our desert island or medieval castle or Civil War battlefield or Planet Zerzix?

A powerful technique for bringing the reader right into the story is to avoid filters, which are word phrases that insert the character between the reader and the action.

James ThayerMay 16, 2010Comment

Making Yellow More Yellow: The Power of Contrast

by James Thayer

Contrast means to show differences. Yellow is more yellow when placed next to blue, rather than next to white. The embroidery of Mona Lisa’s dress neckline is made more intricate and rich by being next to the evenness of her skin. In Nighthawks, Edward Hopper uses the somber, dark exterior colors to make the yellow of the café’s interior harsh and impersonal.

Writers can employ contrast in the same way. Raymond Obstfeld said, “Putting contrasting elements next to each other tends to emphasize each work; putting similar elements next to each other tends to blend them together.”

James ThayerMay 15, 2010Comment

Italics or Quotations Marks?

by Cherie Tucker

Would you write War and Peace or “War and Peace”? There is some confusion as to how to represent titles of literary works, names of ships, operas, and such in print. Some people put them all in quotation marks, but some things require italics. There is a simple way to remember when to use italics versus quotation marks. If what you are naming is a complete thing, you need italics: book titles; magazine and newspapers; television series, plays, and movies; operas and musicals; paintings and sculptures; and ships and airplanes belong in italics. (If for some reason you can’t produce italics on your computer, you may underline or use all capital letters.)

Cherie TuckerMay 15, 2010Comment

Giving Up

by Jennifer Paros

When I was eight years old, I decided I did not like dodge ball. It alarmed me. And truly, it wasn’t just dodge ball—it was, at that time, anything in which a ball was airborne and coming at me. Apparently, having no perception of myself as one who can catch, dodge, or work with an oncoming object, the whole idea made me nervous.

And so I went to my mother and requested that she write me a note asking that I be excused from all gym games that involved balls. Yes, I did that.

Jennifer ParosMay 15, 2010Comment

How Your Novel's Point of View Affects Your Characters

by Jason Black

Perhaps nothing is as fundamental to the reader's experience of your novel's characters as the novel's point of view (POV). The exact same story will feel entirely different if written once in third-person POV and again in first-person.

The array of POV choices at the modern novelist's disposal is somewhat dizzying, and each leaves its mark on a book and on that book's characters.

Jason BlackMay 15, 2010Comment

A Small Press Publishing Primer: the Most of Your Book’s Production Time

by Joan Frank

Going into production with a small press can feel, at the beginning, like a mail-order marriage—an intimate relationship that has suddenly fallen out of the sky.

I’ve spent some time on this mat—four books of fiction by four small publishers—and learned by doing. Small presses, to me, are the last of a breed of literary heroes, stepping forward where larger houses absconded.

Joan FrankMay 15, 2010Comment

A Lesson on Storytelling

by Robert Dugoni

We all have the ability, to one degree or another. It is innate—the ability to tell stories.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of the Saturday afternoon when my nonnie would drive down the peninsula from San Francisco, often accompanied by one of her lady friends, (she had been widowed at a young age). Nonnie always brought us Italian sour dough bread, Salami, Coppa, Mortadella, and cheese. My nine brothers and sisters and I loved the food, but what we really craved were the stories of our father as a boy.

Robert DugoniMay 15, 2010Comment

Top Ten Publishing Myths

by Erin Brown

Editors and agents aren’t looking for great writing anymore...it’s all about the almighty dollar

Okay, there’s a bit of truth to this, in that publishing is a business, and businesses strive to make a profit. However, many, many authors who can’t find an agent end up telling themselves that this is the reason. As if their writing is simply too good to be published. This is not true (sorry to that guy who will remain nameless who sent me a ten page email about how brilliantly talented he is and that’s why he’s never found an agent).

Erin BrownMay 15, 2010Comment

Hannibal, Nurse Ratched, the Shark? Creating Your Villain

by James Thayer

Readers just love to hate Nurse Ratched and Lord Voldemort. And Iago, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and Bill Sikes. These villains lie, cheat, bully, swagger, and connive, and we love it. And then they chisel, goad, cackle, and leer, and we love that, too.

Few things in fiction are as fun as a vile villain, both to read about and to write about. We—at least, most of us—can’t be outrageous, sordid, and corrupt, but our reading and writing can be filled with such folks.

James ThayerApril 15, 2010Comment