“So are Ash and Skye going to get together or what?” my mom demanded after reading the latest installment of my Syzygy series. I stifled a groan. “Do you think I’m that predictable?” “No, I just know you.” Meaning she knows I’m a total sucker for a good ship. Since childhood, I’ve endured tedious book series and shark-jumping … More Shipping and Handling, Part 1: How to write romantic subplots
Has a book ever consumed you? Hooked you so completely that you smuggle it to work and read surreptitiously under the desk, and stay up all night devouring chapters to find out what happens? I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in one sitting, curled in my dad’s blue armchair that matched the … More How to Write a Novel, Part 3: Narrative Tension
Last night I began teaching my first creative writing class at a local college. The course helps participants launch their first novel, from the germ idea through the first chapters. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the discipline—Ernest Hemingway famously said that writing is a craft where no one ever becomes a master—I … More How to Write a Novel, Part 1: Turning an idea into a story
Wild Type 