Bringing Emotion to the Page

Mar 28, 2021 | Blog, Method, Writing, Writing Craft

When I first started writing, I was told that if my character cries on the page, my reader was not going to be crying as she read that. If I wanted to bring tears to my reader’s eyes, my character’s eyes needed to be dry while they were completely torn up inside. As...

Building a story with archetypes

Mar 21, 2021 | Blog, Method, Writing, Writing Craft

Archetypes. They’re not stereotypes! Stereotypes are an oversimplification of a type of person—the evil, mustache-twirling villain who does bad things for the pure joy of being mean. Stereotypes tend to be two-dimensional characters. They have no depth, no reason...

Tearing a book apart

Mar 7, 2021 | Blog, Method, Writing, Writing Craft

I’ve currently got three books I’m reading critically in addition to the one I’m doing my best to write. So currently at the top of my mind is what readers are looking for when they read a book. What I should be looking for as I tear these books apart. Number one, of...

Competency

Jan 24, 2021 | Blog, Method, Writing, Writing Craft

With the peaceful transfer of power in the U.S. government, I can’t help but feel as if we’ve all turned a new page. Every four years Americans have an election where we give ourselves the opportunity to try again, to start anew, to move in a different direction. Some...