Monthly Archives: December 2016

Remakes are fine for Hollyweed

Do you really and truly want to write something that’s not only been done before, but done to death? Ick. And suddenly, an imagined protest from one of my students pops into my head: “Gimme a break! I’m no genius. How … Continue reading

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And so it begins…

In my last post I touched on the essentials of a good opening for genre fiction novels: character, conflict and setting. I prefer the more memorable, alliterative rendition: a person, in a place, with a problem. (A while back I offered … Continue reading

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Speed dating and page one

We’ve all heard about the importance of first impressions, and there are warehouses full of data which support the concept. For a novel–especially for a writer’s first novel–nothing is more important. If the opening of your story fails the first … Continue reading

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Writing a novel is like…

…eating an elephant. You have to do it one bite at a time. No one seems to care how the elephant feels about this. The point, obviously, is that writing a novel is a big job, and you won’t finish … Continue reading

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