Exploring the Third Rail

Exploring the Third Rail

I was preparing for a talk I’m going to be giving this weekend to the Maryland Romance Writers when I was reminded of Lisa Cron’s concept of the Third Rail. This is an easy way to think about Story, Plot, Character development, and GMC all wrapped up into one very...
Stepping back for a broader view

Stepping back for a broader view

It’s never too late to analyze your book. In fact, despite the fact that I’m a die-hard plotter, I find it incredibly useful to plot out the story structure and character arcs of a book after it’s finished. It doesn’t matter how detailed my plot it, when I actually...
Free Will

Free Will

You’ve got a book to write. A story to tell. There’s something you want to say or an event or series of events you want to share. You’ve got a plot in your mind and you’ve got a really good idea or perhaps the entire thing planned out either on paper or in your mind...
Getting Through the Mid-Book Slump

Getting Through the Mid-Book Slump

The mid-book slump. We all experience it. In the past week, I’ve seen three people on Facebook asking others for advice on this phenomenon. They’ve written to the middle or nearly to the middle of their book and they’re bored or they’ve run out of ideas or they’re...
Deliberate Motifs

Deliberate Motifs

On the Writers’ Block Party Podcast, we recently had Kathleen Gilles Seidel back to speak with us about repeated motifs (note: this won’t air for a few weeks, sorry!). I wrote about them on this blog a couple of months ago, but Kathy did something unique: she...