The most important rule: Do not, I repeat, do not censor yourself in any way. Leave your editorial mind out of the loop. Just let the ideas come pour….

The semi-colon is a burp, a hiccup. It's a drunk staggering out of the saloon at 2 a.m., grabbing your lapels on the way and asking you to listen to ….

Think of it as the Doorway of No Return. The feeling must be that your lead character, once she passes through, cannot go home again until the major ….

Status, worry and comparison are ways to madness, not victory..

In fact, one could argue that the skill of the fiction writer boils down to the ability to exploit intensity..

If you can write each day, do it, and meet a quota. Minimum 350 words a day. A baboon can do 350 words a day. Don't be shown up by a baboon.

A writing teacher once told me that the most successful movies and books were simple plots about complex characters. You should be able to articulate….

Many writers struggle with exposition in their novels. Often they heap it on in large chunks of straight narrative. Back story – what happens before ….

The thing I do at the beginning is a "voice journal," a free form doc that is the character speaking to me. I just work on it until I start to hear d….

There's a perilous word fiction writers need to watch out for. The word is 'had.'.

Superb historical romance, with a spiritual theme woven seamlessly throughout. I much enjoyed The Covered Deep and look forward to more from its auth….

Characters who are absolutely sure about what they do, who plunge ahead without fear, are not that interesting. We don’t go through life that way. In….

My philosophy on writing books is that if you learn only one new thing, or even get a new take on something you already know, it's worth it..

Every hour you spend writing is an hour you don't spend worrying about your writing..

Anyone living in Los Angeles who has opposable thumbs is required to write a screenplay..

Structure is translation software for your imagination..

Write like you're in love. Edit like you're in charge..