In this essay, I want us to reconnect with our core intents. Every writer hits that moment: the plot stalls, the characters go quiet, the pages stop piling up. And, if you’re honest, pantser or plotter, it’s not just the book that is stuck. You’re stuck! How could...
I’m going to take you behind the scenes with this essay. This morning, I rewrote the opening of my new book—again, for the sixth time. I think I’m getting close. I don’t usually count my rewrites, but this one is different. The first chapter has been a thorn in my...
If your story feels like it is stalling right from the first page, your problem might not be your plot. Before you rush off to rewrite the progression of the first chapter or maybe insert one of those unnecessary prologues, take a moment and look at your protagonist’s entrance. Readers decide whether to care (or […]
If your scene feels slow, no matter how perfectly written, it may be missing urgency. Add a meaningful deadline and let it reshape your character’s actions, raise the stakes, and create real-time evolution that your reader can feel.
Have you ever stared at the top of a blank page, not looking at the story but looking at the title, and felt like a complete idiot because you can’t put a name to the thing that it took you 120,000 words to write? You’re not alone. In my consulting work, titles stop...
We are all writers from somewhere. For me, it is the South, and more specifically, Appalachia. It’s my culture, just as your culture is yours, and it makes up who I am and what I express as a writer. As I write this essay about my place and time, think about your...
Have you ever written a scene that looked good on paper, but there was just something about it that didn’t have…something? Maybe it felt hollow. Perhaps the characters said all the right things, yet…Maybe the setting was vivid, and you described it perfectly,...
As writers, we often feel this burning need to say something important. We’ve lived. We’ve lost. We’ve witnessed. We’ve studied the human condition, wrestled with pain, and collected moments of truth we feel everyone should know. We feel impassioned. We want to take...
I’ve been a professional actor, and I’ve written for actors, and I can tell you that when actors read a script, they’re not looking for beautiful words; they’re searching the script for a purpose, a purpose aligned explicitly with the role they are interested in...
One of the most powerful tools a writer has in his pocket is urgency. When you think about the last great book or movie you read or saw, the one you couldn’t seem to move fast enough through because it was so incredible and you had to rush forward to find out what...