My Courses

A book signing, reading or other presentation centered on your book obviously is a good way to promote your title. To be successful, however, your presentation will need to be promoted as well. Some forms of promotion work far better than others. It mainly depends on where you are presenting the book. If appearing at a…

• Follow a “process” when writing your story • The “thinking step” when writing your book • Drafting: Write on paper or type on computer?  • Draft rarely perfect after first go-roundAfter you’ve brainstormed some ideas and made an outline of how you might organize those thoughts into a story or nonfiction piece, the next step is get busy “drafting.”…

Rather than subordinating one plot to other – that is, rather than make one a subplot – why not treat them with equal importance? When two dramatic plots occur at the same time in a story, usually involving different characters but the same theme, you are employing a parallel plot structure. A novel with such a…

• Ways to break story structure Most novels, short stories and screenplays today follow a traditional five-part story structure, involving an introduction-rising action-climax-falling action-denouement. While dominant, this isn’t the only form you have to follow as a writer. Indeed, some of the best stories and novels don’t.  • Zip two disparate stories into one tale Rather than follow a lone main character…

To remove yourself from the story so you can best determine what needs to be changed, set it aside for a few days, then re-read. You may find that some of what sounded great when you first penned it is now problematic and that some of what you initially disliked actually reads quite well. ______________ My…

Anytime you’re writing a scene in the story’s rising action, you’ll want to treat it as a short story in and of itself. That means focusing on conflict. All too often when editing such scenes for my clients, I find that it’s written a bit too much like first-they-did-this-then-they-did-that, focusing a lot on the setting and…

You’ve probably gagged if you’ve ever seen these two words mixed up. To choke is to obstruct or slow something: People choked on the city’s foul stench or The closed lanes created a choke point for traffic. A chock typically refers to a wedge or a block that prevents something from moving: The cement block placed in front of the tire effectively kept the…

One way to give your story depth is to include a subplot, which is a secondary plot line. This sometimes is referred to as the B story, a term from screenwriting. A subplot typically centers on the supporting characters to the protagonist and antagonist. For example, if you wrote a science fiction story about a fleet…

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of…

Have your story critiqued by others – not by a spouse, parents, family members or close friends but by someone who writes, reads or edits for a living (Full disclosure here: I own and run such an editing service.). In addition, have just one or two readers/editors look it over; if you give it to too…