Using Adjectives

From the Writer’s Digest Grammar Desk Reference by Gary Lutz and Diane Stevenson. Let’s examine the embellishments that either limit meaning or add further information (as well as direction, color, and detail to the basic grammatical unit). Modifiers and Other Parts...

Flash Fiction FAQs

What is flash fiction? Exact definitions can vary by specific market, but generally, complete stories of fewer than 1,500, 1,000, 500 or even 300 words can be classified as flash fiction. Other terms play companionably in the same sandbox, including short-short...

The 7 Tools of Dialogue

My neighbor John loves to work on his hot rod. He’s an automotive whiz and tells me he can hear when something is not quite right with the engine. He doesn’t hesitate to pop the hood, grab his bag of tools and start to tinker. He’ll keep at it until the engine sounds...

Career Patterns That Work

If your goal is to get published, that’s great. As an agent with thirty-plus years experience developing fiction careers, though, I can tell you that your thinking is too limited. Getting published is not the end of the road, but the beginning. Sizeable audiences...

10-Minute Fixes to 10 Common Plot Problems

Good fiction takes time. You cannot sit down at the keyboard and pound out the Great American Novel in one or two sessions. (Take it from me; I’ve tried.) No, we must be patient with our art and our craft, we must read, we must study, we must write. And write, and...