On Reading the Fantastic and Writing the Meh

I learned to write when I was "young."  As a sixth grader — all of eleven years old — I developed a fixation on The Lord of the Rings.  And also Dungeons and Dragons.  With character sheets on one corner of the desk and hand-drawn sketches of a "hobbit swashbuckler" in the other corner, I put all my attention to the beautiful blank page before me: the story.

Writing the Novel: Intertwining Plot, Conflict, and the Tapestry of Character Development

Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Novels are complex creatures. They involve a complex weave of characters and events which must still fascinate the reader from the first page to last. The key to unlocking your novel lies in integrating the personal conflicts of each individual character with the central conflict of the whole novel.  The goal is to help the reader sympathize with your characters as they struggle not only to "solve" the core problem of the novel, but also as they try to face the dangerous facts of their own lives.

How to Write a Novel: The Quick Guide

Writing a novel can bee an extremely difficult experience, and yet it remains one of the most rewarding experiences in writing. Public adoration aside, the sense of accomplishment runs deep.

To help you reach that, here are some tips on how to write a novel.

How to Write a Novel in Three Easy Steps

There are really three steps to writing a novel: begin, persevere, and revise.  Once you master these three steps, the rest of the work - the entire novel itself, actually - will literally complete itself.

But then only three easy steps?  Is it really that simple to write a novel?  The answer, dear reader, is yes.  And at the same time it's no...

Write the Reading Experience You've Always Wanted

Everyone, it seems, wants fame.  We want success.  And success, in writing, is measured by readership.  It's measured by exposure to the greater public.  It's measured in the connections we have to other writers and also to our publishers.  Yet the root of these connections is the work itself - the writing.

March 20 Newsletter - Character, Dialogue Tags, and Contests

The latest 1-2-Writing Newsletter is now online!  You can sit it by visiting my iContact Profile.  And if you would like to receive regular updates (about two newsletters per month), then you can Subscribe to Our RSS Feed or add your e-mail over to the right.

1-2-Writing Workshops Online

Write to the Finish with Sean Murphy and Tania Casselle

Are you writing a novel?  Would you like to?  The award-winning authors Sean Murphy (www.murphyzen.com) and Tania Casselle (www.writeondeadline.com
& www.tcwriter.com) will again be hosting their "Write to the Finish" Distance Workshop starting in April.