Writers sometimes ask which is better—tracking words or tracking time. A daily word count can be doable. Or ghastly. Successful authors’ quotas vary greatly.* Ernest Hemingway strove for 500 words a day. On the other hand, Michael Crichton claimed to whip out 10,000 words at one go. Many articles appear about word … Read More
E. M. Forster, in his 1927 Aspects of the Novel, applied the terms “flat” and “round” to describe fictional characters (pp. 103-166). Those true to life he considered to be “round,” while “flat” characters served only one purpose in the story. Authors create flat characters to represent a specific idea … Read More
Do you need ideas for stories? Venture out of your comfort zone. Traveling on the back roads, I’ve found a wealth of stories begging to be told. My life changed in August, 1999, on my way home from a family reunion in Arkansas. Interstate 20 was under construction. Everywhere. After … Read More
I felt the energy in the auditorium shift as scattered and unfocused conversations hushed and hundreds of eyes focused on the speaker. I was a part of that crowd at a Hay House conference, listening to bestselling author Mike Dooley as he inspired an audience of mostly amateur writers. Dooley … Read More