I’m about to walk out the door on my way to the airport. I’m heading to NYC to meet up with the great and lovely Susan May Warren at the …
Build powerful TURNING POINTS in a novel (An Equation!)
For most authors, setting up the right Act 1 feels natural – you introduce a character, give him a problem, invite him on a journey and then. . . All …
Writer’s Math: Prep a Scene with 5+5+1
As a novelist, I thought I’d escaped all things numerical. Fine with me, as the mention of numbers is reason to cue the white noise in my brain. Through the …
The Easy Fix to creating MOTIVATION (and adding tension to your scene!)
Extreme Book Makeover: Saggy Scene Solutions – Creating powerful MOTIVATION Have you ever read a scene where the character says or does something that seems to come out of the …
What the Lord of the Rings Taught Me about Crafting Tension in My Novel
In our daily lives, we’re all about doing whatever we can to decrease tension. But when it comes to the lives of our fictional characters, we have to be willing …