Most writers and readers know the difference between a thriller and a mystery. A mystery is a whodunit. While we know a crime has been committed, the culprit and methodology is not revealed until near the end of the story. That’s the mystery. With a thriller, we know fairly soon who committed the offense or […]
Building an Income Machine Through Writing
I once worked for a company that started out as a small business in the owner’s basement. Over the course of about 10 years, the company evolved into the worldwide leader in their industry. From my perspective as an insider, the secret of the company’s success was the focus on producing high quality products and […]
How To Overcome Writer’s Block
Writer’s block affects all writers to one degree or another. Most aspiring writers can spend hours staring at a computer screen, while unable to enter anything more than a few sentences of sometimes incoherent dribble. Sometimes your head may be full of great story ideas, but you cannot express them in writing. This debilitating mental […]
Outlining Your Novel With a Step Sheet
I’ve written stories for over 20 years, but never created outlines prior to writing the actual story. Stories and plots always started with a premise, and then emerged scene-by-scene from my imagination as the story progressed. I simply let the story talk to me as I wrote. Only rarely was there any clear idea about […]