Writing Craft

I used to watch the decorating shows on HGTV. One of the principles I learned was “If you can’t hide it, make it a feature.” An ugly, useless old chimney would cost too much to tear down. So they painted it suitably, filled the fireplace with candles, and mounted the flat screen TV on it. Sometimes our stories include awkward facts that a mass audience won’t understand and believe right away. I recently read a novel that featured a set … Read More »

Here’s me staring at a blank computer screen. You guessed it. I’m starting the first chapter of a new novel. Since I write historical mystery and this will be the 5th in the series, I know my protagonist well. That puts me a step ahead. However, since this novel is set in a new locale, I’ll need to do research. The advantage of writing historical fiction is that you get the fun of imagining yourself in a different time and … Read More »

Dialogue can be tricky for many writers. The way we talk and the way we think doesn’t always look right on the page. New writers often struggle creating dialogue that doesn’t sound stilted, forced, or just plain weird. When I first started writing, I was terrible at dialogue. It sounded unnatural, it went on too long, and I wasn’t sure of the rules of formatting. So I started paying attention to the dialog I read, I practiced it by using … Read More »

We’ve all experienced a high school teacher or college professor expounding on a given story’s “theme.” Those with a sense of the bigger picture can more easily parse a novel-length story into its theme(s) than the rest of us. Occasionally debates break out regarding the central theme of a novel or whether a novel is “literary” only if there’s a clear and well-supported theme on which all elements of the story hang. I subscribe to the theory that while a … Read More »