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Character Description Notes

Reading Time 2 Mins Read
Some authors spend a lot of time on character description. There are all kinds of questionnaires and forms floating around out there on the internet, and they were even given to me as assignments in college. The author details favorite colors, food, music, and hobbies. They decide where they went to school, who their first girlfriend was, or what their job is. 99.9% of this stuff never makes it to the finished novel, but the author enjoys this exercise. It’s like building a character on the Sims. Admit it. Those of you who play Sims have spent way too much…

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On the City of Valheid.

Reading Time 3 Mins Read
Taken from the notes document for The Little Owl. This is some world building for Valheid, the seat of government for Derehan, where the bulk of the story is set. In the northern country and at higher altitudes, so the buildings will have extremely steep roofs with thatch or sod. Stone and wood construction. Cobbled streets and dirt roads. Well thought out drainage ditches and canals with a very simple sewer system for runoff only. No indoor plumbing or black water management. Chamber pots and out houses. There is no military, but there is a guard. They are not a war-like kind…

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Character Flaw vs. Character Arc

Reading Time 9 Mins Read
One of the most dangerous misconceptions (relatively speaking, of course) in the academia of creative writing concerns the character flaw. I blame the internet. In a day and age where everyone gets a platform, and where a huge percentage of writers are self taught using online resources, the vast, maze-like bog of story-telling theory gets reduced to soundbites and memes. Because people have, in general, such short attention spans, the most effective way to communicate with them these days seems to be superimposing a single short sentence over a brightly colored background on Facebook. That’s not to knock social media….

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An Entirely Unnecessary Response to a Bad Feminist Review of WW84

Reading Time 6 Mins Read
The last time I checked, the struggle with weak female characters was never about romance. Never. It was about the fact that the female character was consistently shallow and only existed as a reward for the male MC. She was there to provide a romance subplot for another character. That was NOT the case in WW84. If anything, Chris Pine’s character fails that particular test.

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Tied Up in a Bow

Reading Time 6 Mins Read
What’s the one thing that keeps a reader turning the page? One word: tension. To be more specific, it’s the build up of tension and the expectation of release. But that’s such a broad concept with a myriad of options, how can one possibly write a single article on the entire topic? Well you probably can’t. But there is one place that tension is often overlooked, and that also happens to be the one place it should be strongest: the last sentence/thought of a scene. There are a whole bunch of writerly advices out there that have been compressed down…

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Announcing: The Little Owl

Reading Time 3 Mins Read
There is no such thing as right anymore. Gwen has set herself strict rules to keep her heinous abilities in check: No listening in. No Coercion. No lies. But now she must decide how much of a monster she’s willing to become in order to save the people she loves. I am happy to announce the one book that I have been working on more than half my life: The Little Owl. This book has been a passion project for the past twenty years. It has gone through many different iterations, name changes, character changes, plot changes… And finally it’s…

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On the Prowl

Reading Time 3 Mins Read
A deleted scene for Table Five. Spoilers ahead: Mae and Jamie are looking for someone to help her check off the final item on her list. Several guys caught Mae’s eye as they danced, though most of them backed off the second they saw Jamie, who was obviously dancing with her. There were two, however, who either viewed him as fair competition, or at least non-issue. A tall man with a trim beard and tight jeans, and another with dirty blond hair and a square jaw.  “I think I’ve got some nibbles,” Mae said into Jamie’s ear when the blond…

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The Beautiful Beta

Reading Time 3 Mins Read
If there’s one thing every author needs, its eyeballs on your page. Not just one pair, but many. Of all the long, complicated, fluid steps involved in writing a book, one of the most valuable is the Beta Read stage. At this point, you have finished your novel and are relatively happy with it. (An author is never completely happy with their work, but you can get close.) You’ve double checked everything, tied up all the loose ends, and even had a friend read it to check for obvious errors. Now it’s time for the beta read. It can seem…

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Crazy Aunt June

Reading Time 2 Mins Read
Some notes about the one character that never quite made it to the page, from The Ordinary Life of Emily P. Bates. Crazy Aunt June, as described by Emily. This excerpt didn’t make the final cut. June Bates.  There’s only one way to describe that woman:  crazy.  In fact, that’s how we refer to her, Crazy Aunt June.  She even calls herself that.  “Oh, kids, I’m so glad you’ve come to see your Crazy Aunt June!” she says.  Yes, sir, she’s nutters all right.  Her house is nuts too.  She inherited it from Grandpa Bates when he died, and he…

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Much Ado About Pat

Reading Time < 1 Min Read
Taken from my notes document for Table Five. The big problem: how do I get Pat and Mae to meet? Okay, I want Mae and Pat to meet at some point without Mae realizing who she is (at least not at first). First of all, Pat knows how Mae is involved with Jamie, so her going to the bookstore must be intentional. So why does she go there? Is she just curious? Jamie seems to really like her. He’s been absurdly cheerful the past few days and Pat wants to see what’s up. Why does she care about this?  She…

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Performance Anxiety

Reading Time 4 Mins Read
An excerpt from Chapter 8 of The Ordinary Life of Emily P. Bates. Emily visits Finn at the Cornell Library, where he works. “So,” I started, and then stopped to gather my words. “So I was actually kind of avoiding this party thing for a reason.” “Really?” Finn sounded maddeningly unsurprised.  “Yeah.” “Would it have something to do with Mr. McDreamy? Or your lack of party experience in general.” He opened his mouth and I tossed in another M&M. “Kind of both.”  “Go on.”  “Well, first of all, yes, parties make me nervous. Drinking parties in particular, because frankly I’ve…

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Sex and Climaxes

Reading Time 5 Mins Read
I am personally all for getting nasty in print (as proven by my latest book, set to come out next year!) But even the raunchiest of us know that graphic sex scenes aren’t always appropriate. You have to consider things like audience (you don’t want to be handing porn to minors) and the plot and climax of your story (pun intended). Sometimes a book simply doesn’t call for a sex scene, even if the characters are in a sexual relationship. Well I’m bored tonight. Why not amuse myself by categorizing them in extremely unnecessary detail? Vanilla This one is pretty…
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