I love a good villain. He does so much for a story. He gives the reader someone to hate, which engenders emotional involvement, commitment ...

Mike Nichols was a master storyteller, one of the best that ever lived, in my opinion. I saw him in an interview once where he was asked to ...

My Holiday Gift for You is an Alice Orr How-To! Write in the first person, using "I." Answer as your character. Speak with her voi...

Mike Nichols was a master storyteller, one of the best that ever lived, in my opinion. I saw him in an interview once where he was asked to ...

I'm writing this on a difficult day. I am surrounded by pressure, stress, and expectations – the first phalanx of the Enemies of Creativ...

Writing advice from thriller author and former editor Alice Orr Every writer I know has endured rejection. If you’ve escaped that fate...

Editing is an art, and some have a better knack than others. However, editing is also a science. There are rules in grammar regarding form...

According to Wordweb , conflict has many shades of meaning, including a disagreement or argument about something important; opposition betw...

Why Claire Gem Chose Self Publishing I began my published author career with not one, not two, but three small publishers. My experience wi...

Writing Resources I Found Helpful I  thought about all the things I ended up stumbling onto as a new writer and decided to try to make a de...

I'm going to wear my editor hat today and share tips I use on finding words that don't work as hard as you want them to.  Every wri...

I know, I know, I should have loaded this earlier, but it’s still the 28 th right? I was having a hard time on how to conclude this… ...

So this month we’ll talk about self publishing...something I haven’t done so don’t know much about, but I’ll do my best. There a...

L ast month I shared my secret to writing great dialogue. This month, I'm going to share my secret to a polished manuscript. This is...