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A lot of writers—especially beginning writers—choose to believe that writers fall into one of two camps: Plot-based writers and Character-based (or Organic™) writers. The problem with this view is that it suggests that one can have plots without characters and vice versa. And, I suppose, this is true in a general sense; but not in […]

This exercise harkens back to what we covered in High Intensity Writing Workout No. 1. You’ll be using some of the skills you developed there to get through this workout. One “problem area” (to keep the workout metaphor working) for most writers early on in their careers involves tunnel vision. Whether working from notes or […]

One of the goals of any good writing is to pack a lot of information into as few words as possible. The biggest culprit in preventing this is the verb “to be.” The reason is simple: the verb is the lowest-common verb—it applies almost anywhere. But it is weak and flabby and applied too broadly. […]

Because I’ve started teaching online writing classes through Arizona State University’s Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, I’ve been having to put together exercises to help students understand and master a variety of techniques. One of the things I’m pretty much death on is using he said/she said or their variants in dialogue. I […]

The folks at Storybundle.com have put together two bundles where you get to set the price for what you buy. And these are smoking deals. First up in the Nanowrimo writing package. This is an incredible value. For the $20 I’d ask for my 21 Days to a Novel, you get ten writing books by […]

Fiction For A Cure, which is a mega-event in the Relay For Life of Second Life’s fundraising campaign for the American Cancer Society, wraps up today. We have two incredibly special events to finish the drive. At 3 PM PDT/Second Life time, New York Times bestselling author Diana Gabaldon will join us for a reading. […]

Tonight, starting at 6 PM PDT, I’ll be teaching my class, 21 Days to a Novel in Second Life. The event is part of Fiction For A Cure, which is part of Relay for Life in Second Life’s cancer research fundraising effort for the American Cancer society. Hit the link for information about the class […]