Why rebuild the wheel? There’s a template for that!

Two of the most popular apps used in fiction writing are Scrivener and Plottr. Scrivener is incredibly powerful and wide-ranging having so many features most authors don’t even use half of them. Plottr is more simple but getting broader in scope all the time. The...

Story Structure Revisited

There are so many different types of story structure. and they have anywhere from three parts to six, twenty-four, or more. I happen to be fascinated by story structure. It’s a fundamental piece of writing fiction—and can be used for nonfiction as well. Story...

Getting the Timing Right

Timelines will kill you… as a writer… in your novel. Let me clarify this. When you are writing a book (and, I’m sorry to say, this happens a lot more with pantsers than plotters) and focused on what needs to happen next to a) advance the plot; b) develop the...

Writing Outside In

I’m in the plotting phase of my next book. Being a plotter I develop my characters and plan out a good number of my scenes before I even put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Being a conscientious, professional writer and well as someone who teaches writing craft,...