Skilled writers use sensory details to bring emotion to the reader.  Oddly enough, emotion doesn't come from fast-paced action.  Our...

Many first-time novelists and memoirists struggle with timelines, asking excellent questions in my classes.  Two favorite ones:  * How lo...

Anyone who has written creative nonfiction (memoir, particularly) has probably run into the question of story ownership.  How much o...

Making New Year's resolutions about my writing is fun.  Energizing.  At New Year's, anything is possible.  I look at what I have...

When you read a great story, you don't even notice how you're engaged.  You just are--right?  But skillful writers plant a r...

Is one of your New Year's goals to finally get that manuscript submitted?  Get off your endless revision-hamster-wheel?   For your...

I'm a great fan of Elizabeth Gilbert's articles about writing, and especially her newest book Big Magic.  This week, I'm sha...

In her book, Write Away, mystery author Elizabeth George talks about her writing process as she begins a new book.  She first writes...

In real life, we value honesty in dialogue.  Say what you mean, don't make me guess.  Within reason, of course. In literature, dia...

When businesswoman Lura Fischer joined my online book-structuring class a few years ago, she told me she wanted to write a business fict...