Tag: We Are Not alone

Everybody Arcs! How to Use Emotional Growth to Propel the Story and Capture the Reader

Whether we are writing a standalone or a series, character growth is pivotal to good writing. I believe one of the reasons humans are a story people is that we fear change. Often, we see our own flaws and have NO IDEA how to correct them, how to get unstuck. We can feel defeated. Yet, through narrative, we watch protagonists become heroes and, unlike life, there’s full resolution. We can see some slice of ourselves in stories and it helps us change.

Starting the Story "In the Action"—Understanding "In Medias Res"

These days, especially when readers are deluged with choices, our sample pages are more vital then ever. We need to get right into the heart of the action from the get-go. But if “the heart of the action” doesn’t involve a gun battle, funeral or cliffhanging scene, what the heck does it look like?

The Burst of the Social Media Bubble, Rise of the Indie Author & Why Coffee is to Blame

My opinion is we’re seeing a bubble burst that looks a lot like what happened to the dot.coms. Social media has reached an asymptote (not many “drastically new” features to add). Unless Facebook does something EPICALLY STUPID, it will probably remain. Same with Twitter. Fad frenzy has normalized and this new way of interacting has integrated into our culture.

Five Warning Signs Your Story Needs Revision

To maybe make you guys feel better, I’ve written well over a million words in blogs and articles alone. I’ve also written three books, two novels and scads of short stories. As much as I have written—and EDITED—even I have to seek outside editors to look for these issues. We ALL make these oopses. But, hopefully, this blog will give you a nice little checklist so you can clean up your own work as much as possible before handing it to a pro.

Social Media, Book Signings & Why Neither Directly Impact Overall Sales

The same articles that will discourage writers from social media because it doesn’t sell books aren’t also demanding we halt all book signings. Book signing are fun, they are social, and they’ve historically been a way to connect authors to an audience in a personal way. Until social media they were the only way.