So you want to plot a book... Not every writer is a plotter; I realize that, but I'm also a strong believer that your writing will be more efficient if you have at least some idea where your story is going. So, if the idea of writing out a hundred scene cards or even...
Anyone a fan of The Maltese Falcon? How important is the Maltese Falcon in the story? Well, it’s ALL important and in the end, not important at all. The item itself turns out to have no real value to anyone—but what makes it important is it gets the characters and...
A while back Kathy Steffen and I taught a great group of writers from the Romance Writers of New Zealand what I consider to be the very first step in writing any book—nailing the Goal, Motivation, and Conflict of your main characters. (Also known as GMC: Goal...
A lot of writers hear that romance is the number one selling genre and with that in mind decide they want to write a romance novel. Let me start by saying I think that is a horrible reason to want to write a romance novel and one that is laden with possibilities for...
