If you are a writer, you very likely have a scene or two in your head that your mind tells you is just perfect. Maybe it is heart-wrenching, maybe it is too cool to not have in your action-adventure, spy thriller, or fantasy novel. Maybe it is a plot twist too perfect to leave out and you know every reader will never see it coming, and will be forced to reread your book to go back and see how they didn’t know. Sometimes authors say entire books come out of one scene for them

It has been said many times, many ways: kill your darlings. These last few months I have been working on a book which had been at first draft. I had written it, let it sit on a shelf for a few weeks, gave it a once over for basic plot points character arcs, and thought, “yeah that isn’t bad.” I knew it needed polish, but I have recently taken to having beta readers and editors have at my first drafts, because I don’t want to polish a pig, I want to polish the swan. (or whatev

I cannot recall what I was listening to, or if it was reading that discussed the asteroid conundrum. Here is the question at hand: You are an artist of some kind, a painter, sculptor, writer, musician, and you have been working for years of your life to become gifted at what you do. You learn that the world is going to end in 30 days, and all human life and everything we have ever created is going to be destroyed. Humanity will never rise again, and all works of humanity will

Not this kind of acting out... I was recently reading Aristotle's Poetics . It is the earliest surviving work of Greek dramatic theory...

If you sit down to read, you are trusting the author on many levels. If you have read them before you are trusting their tone and...

I am part of an editing and writing group, as everyone who wants to take writing seriously should be. As part of that, every two weeks we...

I have been thinking a lot about the future of writing. I may have more to say on this topic but for right now I want to talk about the...

Too Polished? I have a problem I can’t recall if I have spoken about before. It has to do with the order in which I edit things. I have a...

I want to admit a few things today about editing, writing, and my journey as a writer through the brutal course of authorship. Some...

You know the feeling. The pages are coming slow. You like the voice, the tone, the setting. But something isn’t working. You write a...

I would like to talk to you about my experience with editors for a moment and specifically, grammar. I’ve had four people who have truly,...

I have heard it called the world bible. Until I heard that term, I just called it my rules file and character notes. I build mine as I...

I would like you to look at the page structure of a fantasy novel below. An early segment from Clash of Kings We have a familiarity with...

Let’s talk about my garden for a moment: This garden is a touch overgrown... The garden stretched out like an open wound, raw and gaping...

This is often called line editing, but line editing has multiple parts. Because I am an architectural writer and lean more toward the...

Their time has come... You’ve written your book, and now it’s time to start your edits. Step one: read your book again like a reader....

Worth their weight in black pepper...or gold... I recently finished a novel and passed it on to three beta readers. One loved it and had...

Not all editing is created equal. Many famed authors have said that the first draft is for the writer, and everything else comes later....

Start with your tagline

Most of us have heard the phrase physician, heal thyself. When it comes to editing and writing, people will say, “Work on your own book, get good at your own work, then worry about other people.” I disagree. Editing other people’s books, short stories, poems—anything—is incredibly useful for any aspiring writer. It gives us so much in return. When we read other people’s work, we feel like masters of the craft. Our confidence might soar because we know exactly why this works,