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How is time organized in a novel? We were discussing the organizing principle(s) for a novel recently in one of my writing groups. Today I thought about a few books that I read recently and how they were […]
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2025 was an amazing year for writing. In January, I finished the first draft of the novel I’ve been working on since 2021. In March, I dove into a ten-month class on novel revision. A second draft was […]
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Brooding over the question of why werewolves bite.
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The class critique of my first-draft manuscript is over – now the work begins for a second revision! The critique entailed receiving feedback in the form of letters and annotations on the manuscript – eight people’s feedback, our […]
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Genre in fiction can be a slippery beast. Sometimes I don’t know what to say when people ask me in what genre I write. I usually say that I am broadly writing in the fantasy genre. Sometimes I […]
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My reading for the week has been a book on syntax, and it is delightful. You might think that a sentence that contains both “syntax” and “delightful” is somehow in error. Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style by Virginia […]
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Several years ago, one of my writing buddies asked me if I had a playlist for the novel-in-progress. “A what?” I asked. “Is that a thing?” Turns out it was a thing. Inspired by my friend Jeff, who […]
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Last week I finished the first draft of the novel. I finished the last scene — that is, I filled out the final “sketch” — and called it a first draft. A bright line is useful, if for […]
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In November, I decided to “sketch” the remaining sixteen scenes in my first draft without worrying about details like verb tense or punctuating dialogue. Then in mid-December, I began the work of finishing those scenes—and I’m almost done. […]
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I spent the past week finishing the final scene of the book. The time and place for the scene were present in the primeval outline of 2021, but the contents have shifted around quite a lot as I […]
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