I just finished reading S. D. Smith’s The Green Ember. Smith’s hashtag for the series is rightfully #rabbitswithswords. It is a middle grade fantasy novel about two rabbits who are thrown into an epic medieval tale of a broken kingdom that has hope in the coming of a new king. I read the book because…
On Writing
A collection of lessons, tools, and techniques on writing.
Don’t waste a year writing a bad novel. Do this instead. (Writing advice from Ray Bradbury)
You can spend an entire year on a novel that turns out to be really bad. Ray Bradbury offered some alternative advice for the beginner or intermediate writer: Write 52 short stories instead of one novel. Write one short story a week for a year. “I defy you,” he said, “to write 52 bad ones….
Content Platform and Communication Platform
To become a successful author today, you need to have a platform. What does that actually mean? I find this equation helpful: Platform = Permission + Promise You have a platform when you have permission from someone to deliver a promised outcome. I have been successful building a platform of more than 40,000 email subscribers…
Give Your Characters a Distinct Physical Characteristic
I listened to Andrew Clement’s book Frindle in the car with my kids during vacation. We all enjoyed it very much. One writing technique that stood out to me the most was the way he described the eyes of the teacher in the story. Each time he described an important interaction with Mrs. Granger, he…
The Character Question: What do they want and why?
In an interview with James Altucher, bestselling author Brad Meltzer points out that the plot isn’t what captures the reader’s attention (or the author’s attention for that matter). What really counts is the motivation of the character. That’s what people care about. Meltzer asks himself about each character: What does my character want? Why? If…
