“The first thing you have to learn when you go into the arts is to learn to cope with rejection. If you can’t, you’re dead.” – Warren Adler“Rejection slips, or form letters, however…
If suffering from writer’s block, add something that demands explanation, a technique borrowed from author Raymond Chandler. When Chandler had writer’s block, he would introduce a man with a g…
• Conflict: The heart of every story• Man vs. nature • Man vs. man • Man vs. society• Man vs. God(s)• Man vs. himself ______________________ My name is …
Among the most disappointing ways to end a story is to resolve the conflict by using a paper dragon.A paper dragon is when the villain or a major obstacle facing the main character initially is por…
Often the opening of a story involves some incident that upsets the status quo. In doing so, the main character faces the challenge of restoring order in the world.This incident is known as an…
Just as well-intentioned but misguided parents can stymie their children’s shift to independence and self-reliance, so well-intentioned but misguided writers can stifle their stories’ growth a…
“I suspect that most authors don’t really want criticism, not even constructive criticism. They want straight-out, unabashed, unashamed, fulsome, informed, naked praise, arriving by the …