Creating Characters: 4 Simple Exercises

Tips and techniques for creating characters with emotion and viewpoint in this excerpt from “Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint” by Nancy Kress. 1. WRITE MINI BIOS FOR YOUR DREAM CAST Make a list of characters you either might want to...

Use Method Writing to Learn About Your Characters

Famous actors such as Robert De Niro and Al Pacino prepare for their roles through a process called method acting, originally taught by the highly respected acting teacher Lee Strasberg. Method acting is a process that requires actors to go inside themselves to recall...

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...
The Sabbath Experiment

The Sabbath Experiment

With the most important scientific discovery in history at stake, the elusive Dr. Jonathan Sabbath will stop at nothing to keep his incredible experiment the world’s most closely guarded secret. Only one man can expose Sabbath’s deadly scheme with its promise of...
The Millennium Project: Quantum Reboot

The Millennium Project: Quantum Reboot

FAST, FURIOUS AND SO FINE! Massucci has given us a fascinating look at the possible downfall of western civilization should an evil cyber-genius have his way. In this many-level story, Russian hacking of our strategic defense satellite network is a mask for a much...
The Resurrection of Andrew Finsbury

The Resurrection of Andrew Finsbury

AVAILABLE NOW! When Andrew Finsbury realizes he’s dead, he journeys to the darkest valleys of Hell to confront his murderer and save the woman he loves. SYNOPSIS The year is 1894 — the end of the great age of sailing. Andrew Finsbury wakens in a strange...
Extinction

Extinction

Four strangers become inextricably bound when they put their lives on the line to help a mysterious old man complete a harrowing journey to avert mankind’s extinction. SYNOPSIS A very old man with a vague past that may go back centuries appears on a South Dakota...

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...

Fiction: Point of View

How many times have you heard this around the workshop table: “Why don’t you consider a new point of view?” (Actually, the term used more often is “POV” because it sounds a lot cooler, I suspect.) Everyone then agrees that a new POV might help matters, including the...

9 Tricks to Writing Suspense Fiction

Your heart is slamming against your rib cage, your fingertips are moist and you turn another page. The antagonist is setting up a trap. You wish you could do something to prevent the protagonist from walking into it, but you can’t. You’re helpless, totally at the...

The Action Verb and Beautiful Accidents

If a poem is dynamic, its rhythm headlong, then the tiny turbines of this momentum are the verbs. Action verbs muscle up a sentence and help its propulsion. They may also create unexpected astonishment for the reader. When we believe a poem is finished, we should...