Random Thoughts for April 27, 2022

Knowing you are sick doesn't mean you've gotten treatment. You are aware of the problem--now get to work on fixing it. And speaking of being blocked... Here's my periodic recommendation of a movie I think everyone should see: If you need help with your plot progression--if you have incidents and scenes and characters but need...

Fear of Writing (and how to get it)

I have nothing to say. I don't know enough about theme. Or plot. Or subtext. People will laugh at it. It's not as good as those finished books I read and loved as a kid. I don't know how to write. My spelling sucks. I didn't go to college, or I didn't go to college...

You Wanna Be A Writer? Move Along. You Want To WRITE? Do This.

I've been paid by print magazines for my writing. Not often. But I sent out stories. In every case, I got an offer in the first or second submission. I ain't Stephen King. I don't want to be. I want to write stories I want to tell, and have people read them. I've accomplished this....

A Reader First

You want to write? You have to read. You have to read fiction. Every day. (Of course you will not do this. No one does. But it's a fine goal for a fiction writer.) Read fiction so you know how your betters did it or do it. Read what you want to write--the sort of...

A Sense of Wonder

Why do you read fiction? Is it an escape from irritating and boring Real Life? For me, when I was a little kid, I read because the thoughts and adventures in the books were more interesting than real life. The first novel I read was THE LAST PLANET by Andre (Alice) Norton, the J.K. Rowley...

How Long? Who Cares?

Those Plotting A Book Articles That Tell You How Many Chapters You Need (BONUS Blog Post!) Utterly insane. You’re looking at a board of thirty Post-It notes you HAVE to fill up, because you’ve determined how many chapters you need. How the Hell can you know this? I’m not saying don’t outline, don’t structure. You...

This happened to my girlfriend’s cousin: THE VANISHING HITCHHIKER

Interested in the tales of the hook dangling from the car door handle? The kid put in the oven? How about the source of that ANCIENT punchline “The call is coming from inside the house!” THE VANISHING HITCHHIKER: AMERICAN URBAN LEGENDS & THEIR MEANINGS is the best place to start your investigation. Only 200 pages...