The Lens Through Which You See Your Story
“I find that when I am working I become like an antenna, and suddenly everything relates to my screenplay: a mentioned recipe, […]
The Courage to be Specific in Writing
Humans are full of paradoxes. We only love to the extent that we hate. We are constantly changing our minds, constantly renegotiating […]
The Desire to Write
Whether it is conscious or not, the desire to write is connected to the desire to evolve, to untangle the lie that […]
Building a Body of Work
I remember one day over twenty years ago when I was bellyaching to a friend of mine about how nobody was buying […]
Ten Suggestions for Writing
Below are ten writing suggestions for anyone who is setting out to craft a novel, memoir, or screenplay. Some are obvious, while […]
The Protagonist’s Experience
Regardless of the medium, your reader is not interested in what your character is feeling. Seriously. In fact, if you tell your […]
No Dilemma, No Story
One thing that has been coming up a lot in my classes is the tendency for writers to “figure out” their plot. […]
The Creative Process
When my son, Ray, was first learning to speak, there were so many new words each day — the syntax often fascinating […]
Sell Your Novel to the Movies
When I did a book tour for my first novel, someone asked, “Have you sold the film rights?” And when I said […]
Weights & Measures
Proximity Do our characters have to be two thousand miles apart, or three miles apart? If we are trying to convey a […]
Dilemma: The Source of Your Story
At the heart of every story lies a dilemma. It is not a question of whether or not your protagonist has a […]
Writing the Forbidden
“Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are so ingrained in our society we rarely stop to think about it. I can […]
Humor in Tragedy
(Image from Life is Beautiful, 1997) If you’re going to write a tragedy, infuse your story with humor. Humor pulls us towards the […]
Conflating Characters
Sometimes we’ve written characters that don’t belong in our story because their function is redundant. Conflict might arise that don’t add anything […]
Reframing Your Protagonist’s Goal
“Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful makes complete sense […]
How to Become a First-Time Author
The journey to becoming a first-time author is different for everyone. For me, it involved letting go of the idea that I’d […]
The Theme of the Story
Shakespearean plays begin with the chorus telling us what we are about to see. They don’t tell us the whole plot […]
What is My Title?
Those scant few words on the cover of our book or screenplay can be the most labor-intensive work of our entire manuscript. […]
