While for the most part my creativity remains dead for writing fiction, I have had a few glimpses of story ideas lately. Nothing substantial. Just flickers that could possibly be worked into very short stories. What surprises me is that they don’t have happy endings. If I had to put them into a genre, I’d …

The Alliance of Independent Authors is hosting the Tools & Tech for Indie Authors Conference from October 17th – 18th, 2020. It’s free registration for the 24 hours of the conference and for accessing the recordings in the 48 hours after it closes. Sessions include How to Sell More Books with Bookbub and Write More Books …

One of my quirks as a writer is that once I’ve written details into a story, I tend to believe that’s the way it is. For example, in this draft of WAR: Retaliation, there’s a once-in-a-century storm about to hit. The wind is racing through the city. The clouds are roiling overhead. But having a too-dangerous-to-drive-in storm …

Here’s an example of the power of an author’s fandom. Author Brandon Sanderson has a Kickstarter campaign running to fund the production of commemorative leatherbound volumes of The Way of Kings, the first novel in The Stormlight Archive fantasy series, to celebrate its tenth anniversary. His goal was $250,000. With 23 days left to go as of the …

One complaint authors frequently make is that writing fiction has ruined reading for pleasure because they can’t turn off their editor brain to enjoy a story. I usually don’t have that problem. However, every once in a while some aspect of a book I’m reading for pleasure will jump out at me. Sometimes it’s a plot element …

​As writers, we’re told to start in the middle of the action so the reader doesn’t get bored. We don’t want to give our reader details and backstory that aren’t necessary for understanding the current action. We want the reader to care about the character and understand the situation enough to want to turn the …