I’ve written about this before, but one of the most widespread misconceptions in writing is the idea that you become successful by focusing on your weaknesses. By identifying every single thing we do wrong and correcting it, we’ll be perfect at writing! Right? Most writing workshops and critique groups operate from this point of view. Career development and performance reviews at

A lot of writers have never come across the term “head-hopping” or its definition. I was one of those writers when I completed my first novel (which is unpublished, and will probably remain that way forever.) That’s why I thought I’d take some time to explain it here.     Head-hopping is something that typically happens in stories written in

Some of my most popular posts of all time are about plot ideas… and there are really good plot ideas in old novels. Of course, if you’re learning how to write historical fiction in the Regency or Victorian periods, any of these books would probably be great inspiration. But you can take any of the plot ideas in a new

Earlier this month, I opened up Facebook to see a post from my friend Rebekah about what a wonderful person Amy had been. Past tense. She had died. “No, no, no,” I thought. “This isn’t Amy S., right?” It sounded like it was describing the Amy I knew, but I thought maybe it was a different Amy, one that Rebekah

I’ve always loved stories about amnesia. The Jason Bourne movies are some of my all-time favorites, and the only show I watch besides Supernatural is Blindspot, whose main character is slowly regaining a few of her long-term memories. When I read the book Beware the Wild last month, I was fascinated by the way that characters’ memories were replaced with

Hey everyone, happy Friday! Here’s one of those open threads where you can answer a question, or just tell us what’s on your mind or how your week went. This post contains a tiny brag, but I think that’s okay, because you’re going to get to brag, too. The best thing that happened to me this week was that I found