I don’t really attend writers conferences anymore, because it’s much more comfortable to stay home in my cozy attic office editing the books of the coolest writers on the entire planet—but I have attended a few. And I want to tell you a story today about something that happened to… Read more“3 Steps to Making Friends & Enemies at Writers Conferences”
Category: Meet the Editor
That’s me.
5 BS Indicators for Writers Conferences
‘Tis the season for writers conferences. And last week I told you a story about something that happened at a conference once. Now this week and next I’m going to re-run these two posts I wrote a couple of years ago about writers conferences for all of you out there… Read more“5 BS Indicators for Writers Conferences”
Interviewing Millicent Dillon
You ask if a man who wrote as Jane did would be more famous? A man, of course, could not write as she did.—Millicent Dillon Over the course of her illustrious forty-year writing career, Millicent Dillon has won five O. Henry awards and been nominated for a PEN/Faulkner. She has… Read more“Interviewing Millicent Dillon”
3 More Things to Know About Exposition & Telling
We talked last week about an alarmingly bizarre piece of writing advice one of my clients got from an agent in response to her requested full manuscript. We also talked about exposition & telling and why they’re pretty much exactly the same thing, even though I know we out here… Read more“3 More Things to Know About Exposition & Telling”
15 Things Your Characters Should Never Do
He lifted his leg and fired. With a whoop and a cry, she shot it out the back. They bent to examine their special organs. He couldn’t believe he was alive—he touched himself with gratitude. She knew he’d never get at the secret she was sitting on. If he couldn’t… Read more“15 Things Your Characters Should Never Do”
4 Do’s & 4 Don’t’s for Writing Series Fiction
This one comes from Lyn South, who submitted her question to Victoria’s Advice Column, which I like to think of as Miss Lonelyhearts for the Word-Worn. DO Identify your protagonist(s) and their nemesis(es) clearly right up front in each book. Your reader wants to know who this series is about…. Read more“4 Do’s & 4 Don’t’s for Writing Series Fiction”
10 Lies Agents & Editors Tell You. And Why.
When I came home from a trip to Europe in 1994, I stayed with five friends living in a studio apartment in a bad part of San Francisco’s Mission District. We slept like sardines on the living room floor, and in the mornings I sat at the kitchen table with… Read more“10 Lies Agents & Editors Tell You. And Why.”
5 Things to Celebrate About Finishing Your First Draft
You didn’t know you had that many words in you. And no, they’re not all just variations on “and then.” They’re all possible variations on twenty-six simple little letters, higgledy-piggledy arrangements of sound and thought and meaning, and the images that leap out of them are a magic of physical… Read more“5 Things to Celebrate About Finishing Your First Draft”
13 Things You Should Have Known About Your Characters Beforehand
Are your heroine/hero and villain related? Closely? Are they, in fact, siblings or, maybe, parent & child? Because if they are, you’re going to have a lot of trouble explaining your idea of parenting. Do your characters care about the dilemma you’ve given them? Passionately? Desperately? Enough to carry both… Read more“13 Things You Should Have Known About Your Characters Beforehand”
9 Secrets Your Story Is Keeping from You
It’s already been done by other writers Thousands of others. Thousands of times. And some of those times were classic. It doesn’t care if you know In fact, it wants you to know. “The truth will set us free.” It plans to keep being done by others Even after everything… Read more“9 Secrets Your Story Is Keeping from You”