Or, at least, I anticipate it being a short story. And I should probably put “short” in quotations because I could easily see it pushing 40K+ words, which isn’t all that short. But I digress … [Read more…] about My Next Short Story: No Outlet
characters
How to Juggle Lots of Characters
One of the biggest differences between my first novel, Killing the Immortals, and this novel draft I’m almost done with, possibly called Separation, (but who the hell knows right now?) is the number of characters. [Read more…] about How to Juggle Lots of Characters
Suspense vs. Development
One aspect of writing that’s been more of a challenge for me with the next novel, as opposed to “Killing the Immortals,” has been striking a balance between keeping the suspense taut for the reader, while also giving the reader the details they need. [Read more…] about Suspense vs. Development
Earn Your Plot: Be Shyamalan, not Shyamalan
I wrote recently about the worst thing you can say about my fiction writing, which would be that I’m letting what I want to happen in the story drive my characters’ actions, rather than my characters’ wants, desires and personality driving what happens in the story. There’s little that frustrates me more in a story than when the author appears to be forcing her characters to behave in a way that seems unnatural in order to move the story forward, and the author doesn’t earn his own plot development. [Read more…] about Earn Your Plot: Be Shyamalan, not Shyamalan
The Worst Thing You Could Say About My Story
I’m used to getting bad reviews and hate mail. Close to 20 years in journalism will do that for you. It won’t make you rich, but it’ll certainly help harden you to criticism of your writing. I’ve had my byline published thousands of times, above stories both long and short, dull and exciting, fact and opinion. I’ve written stories I was very proud of (See my Writing section for a few examples), and ones I never wanted to see again after hitting the “Send” button. And, regardless of how I felt about them, there was always a chance I’d receive email or comment from a reader, telling me why whatever I wrote was garbage, and I should crawl into a hole and die. [Read more…] about The Worst Thing You Could Say About My Story