I’m often asked what makes a story great. We all have different definitions of greatness in fiction. But if you peel back the layers of the definitions, I think you’ll find emotion at the core. Something in the story grabs our heart and keeps us reading. Even in thrillers and …
Recent Blog Posts
Say It With Feeling
Because above all else, readers pick up a book to have an emotional experience. They read to connect with characters who provide entertainment and whose trials may add meaning to their own life journeys.~Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, The Emotion Thesaurus Surveys have discovered that people read for three basic …
Entertaining Angels
Instead of posting my own blog this week, I’m suggesting you follow this link to an awesome blog by Bob Welch. His article says why we do what we do so much better than I could. http://wordservewatercooler.com/2014/03/05/entertaining-angels/
Write to the Call
Sometimes, I’ll read a blog and it will hit me in an unusual way. It will make me think about who I am as a writer. It will challenge me to examine myself and why I do what I do. There are some that I revisit and ponder again. And …
Why Do I Read Fiction?
Rachelle Gardner posed this question back on her blog back in August. Only she called it Fiction Readers Are Better People. When I was young, very young, I read fiction to escape to other worlds. I gobbled up the Hardy Boys and Chip Hilton stories. Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke …
Misery Loves Company
Jules Belleno is a reclusive young widow who communicates with the world through her blog, primarily crafting book reviews. Occasionally, she walks to a grocery store. On one of these excursions, she disappears, kidnapped by her favorite author, Patrick Reagan. Apparently, Patrick hasn’t been pleased with recent reviews of his …
How to Write Right—Or—What Is the Right Way to Write?
This question seems to have been around since God carved the commandments in stone. I’m sure some Israelites argued about why he wrote in second person with the implied “you” at the beginning of each one. I know I’ve searched for the right way to write since I began this …
A Time for Every Purpose
Many times, people come up to me and say they want to write a book but can’t find the time. Aspiring writers, people who are making an effort to write, often say the same thing. This week I am guest blogging at the Word Serve Water Cooler. Click the link …
She Looks Just Like Me – A Book Review
The Likeness is the second book in Tana French’s series set in the Dublin Murder Squad. The story has a fascinating premise. The protagonist, Detective Cassie Maddox is summoned to a crime scene. The victim is Cassie’s almost exact look alike and carries an ID identifying her as Alexandra Madison. …
New Ground
For the last year or so, I’ve been breaking new ground in my writing journey. I’ve been exploring the world of speculative or fantasy fiction. It’s been quite the adventure, stretching and challenging me like nothing I’ve written before, not even blogging. It began as a challenge from my weekly …