tension

Characters, Conflict and Publishing, Part II

Conflict The shape of your conflict will vary depending on your genre, but all novels need both internal and external conflict. Internal: I’ve already talked a bit about this (see Part I). What makes things personal for your protagonist? Whatever drives the character and invests him or her in the outcome will invest the readerContinue reading “Characters, Conflict and Publishing, Part II”

Crowing and SCBWI workshop

Before I do anything at all, I want to wish a HUGE congratulations to Ramez Naam for making the shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for his debut science fiction novel NEXUS! So proud! So well deserved! This past Saturday, the Florida chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and theContinue reading “Crowing and SCBWI workshop”

Kalayna Price Guest Blog and Giveaway

Kalayna Price had me at “hello.” Seriously, the opening of the Alex Craft series is like a textbook example of how to hook readers right out of the gate. Check it: The first time I encountered Death, I hurled my mother’s medical chart at him. As far as impressions went, I blew it, but IContinue reading “Kalayna Price Guest Blog and Giveaway”

I hope that everyone had a glorious Thanksgiving! I did something I almost never do…went nearly off the grid. While I did a lot of work (reading, writing…), I mostly spent the long weekend in realtime with family and friends, so social media fell a bit by the wayside. In the immortal words of MadeleineContinue reading “Tension”