I’ve been writing short and long fiction for decades, but I never was much of a planner. I have boxes of dollar store notebooks and…
Be Courageous! “And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The…
I was thrilled that Becca, of Writers Helping Writers asked me to be a guest contributor for this important and sensitive topic. I’m not an expert,…
Ordinary people = engaging suspense Many writers assume suspense novels require elite detectives, international spies, or people who apparently…
put Ordinary People into Extraordinary Situations The secret to making my characters believable isn’t perfection—it’s authenticity under…
Conflict fuels story Conflict is the engine that keeps a novel moving forward. Without it, even the most beautifully written paragraphs begin to feel…
Riding the Short Story Rollercoaster Writing short stories often feels like trying to park a bus in a compact car space. You need precision,…
Just finish...
The struggle is real! Let’s be honest—finding ideas for short stories is the fun part. It’s everything that comes afterward that turns writers…
You won't finish if you don't start.
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Passion is defined as a powerful emotion or intense feeling about some one or some thing . It can be positive, like joy or romantic attraction or…
Every writer I know is waiting for something. The right moment. A longer stretch of time. The fully formed idea. The confidence that what they write…
Your character’s Wound-Want-Need Triangle is the story engine that drives everything.
Chris Vogler, Toronto 2017 Part 3 Joseph Campbell , mythologist, writer and lecturer ( https://www.jcf.org/learn/joseph-campbell-heros-journey ) He…
CHRIS VOGLER, TORONTO 2017 Vogler’s intention during the May workshop in Toronto was to completely transform us and send us out to transform the…
Chris Vogler, Toronto 2017 Arriving at the downtown hotel that morning was an adventure in navigating Toronto’s insane rush hour traffic, trying to…
Be authentic. Listen to your inner writer's voice! I was doing some computer hard drive tidying-up last week. Not that I need the space but it does…
