A Checklist for Developing Your Hero and Heroine

Answer the following questions for each of your main characters. It’s usually most productive to take one character at a time, but if you run into difficulty answering the questions about one, try switching over to the other for a while. As you answer the questions,...

10 Rules for Writing Opinion Pieces

by Susan Shapiro Opinionated editorial essays are often the most fun, fast and furious pieces to get into print — especially for nonfamous writers with strong opinions and day jobs in other fields. That’s because editors of newspapers and online magazines like Slate,...

Writing Advice from Stephen King Jerry Jenkins

HOW DID THE TWO OF YOU MEET? JENKINS: We happened to have the same audio reader, a brilliant voice actor named Frank Muller. In November 2001 Frank was in a horrible motorcycle accident that left him brain-damaged, incapacitated and barely able to speak. One of...

Your Novel Blueprint

by Karen S. Wiesner Writing a novel and building a house are pretty similar when you think about it. For instance, most builders or homeowners spend a lot of time dreaming about their ideal houses, but there comes a time when they have to wake up to the reality of...

One Writers Unique Journey

Writing a novel and building a house are pretty similar when you think about it. Always an avid reader, I really enjoyed the horror genre.  I especially loved the books written by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and John Saul.  Those folks were my idols.  I’m sure I’ve...