To set a forest on fire, you light a match. To set a character on fire, you put him in conflict..

The opposing missions of the various characters create the plot..

For some it is harder to write a novel than to row a bathtub across the North Atlantic..

It has been said that Ernest Hemingway would rewrite scenes until they pleased him, often thirty or forty times. Hemingway, critics claimed, was a ge….

Novel writing is like heroin addiction; it takes everything you've got..

All good plots come from well-orchestrated characters pitted against one another in a conflict of wills..

Writer's block is real. It happens. Some days you sit down at the old typewriter, put your fingers on the keys, and nothing pops into your head. Blan….

It is possible to combine a story line and plot line in the same work. Usually the storylines comes first, serving as a background to the plot line, ….

Fiction writers come up with some interesting metaphors when speaking of plot. Some say the plot is the highway and the characters are the automobile….

You will never work through writer's block if you walk away from your typewriter. That will only make it easier to walk away the next time..

When characters have different goals and are intent on achieving them, conflict results. If the stakes are high and both sides are unyielding, you ha….