How a Book Is Born, Part 12
In which I decide to kill off a character. And then rescind the decision.
In which I decide to kill off a character. And then rescind the decision.
If you’ve been following along, you might think when I refer to watching things blow up, I am using the phrase in a metaphorical sense, but today I actually mean it in the literal sense. That is to say, I have been watching Mythbusters on Netflix. If you’ve ever watched this show, you know…
We often look to successful writers to show us how to be successful, too. We read the books they write, pick their brains when we can, try to emulate what works for them. There’s nothing wrong with that, obviously. But we can make an error in judgment when we assume that what makes someone else…
This is an excerpt from Dojo Wisdom for Writers, second edition Lesson #4: From your chi flows your creativity Chi (also qi and ki) is the life force that permeates the universe. You can think of this as your inner energy or enthusiasm, if that suits your mindset better. Martial artists learn to tap…
The other day I got a note that read, “Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know I read and enjoyed Children of the Wolves! I would love to read more in that world. Do you have any plans on revisiting it?” If you’ve been hanging around here for any amount of…
Doing the work, whatever the work is, requires understanding the work. I wouldn’t have taken on this challenge (and thought I could succeed) if I had never written a romance before. There’s no way I could have learned all I needed to learn about writing romance in thirty days. What I am doing is in…
I am frequently accosted by writers, not necessarily my clients, who demand to know how long it takes to hear back from editors. They have an agent who has submitted a proposal or a manuscript, and they are biting their nails waiting to hear back. I understand how hard it is to be patient; I am as…