A new release of my novel The Fifth Man is finally out in e-book form, joining the new paper version that was published a couple of months ago. This is the sequel to Oxygen, a space adventure novel w...
Can you have two independent storylines in your novel that only merge near the end? Or are you going to confuse readers if you do that? Mike posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Bl...
Can you write a story using both third-person and first-person point of view? Will the POV cops arrest you if you do? Will you confuse your readers? Sanhita posted this question on my “Ask A Qu...
How much can your lead character change over the course of a novel? Can his values, ambitions, and goals change — or should they remain locked in place? Beka posted this question on my “A...
How do you write in the point of view of a small child in a novel for adults? Derrick posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page: I’m working on a story that begin...
How do you handle “stage directions” when writing your novel? Is there one rule that always works, or is it more complicated than that? Davalynn posted this question on my “Ask A Qu...
How do you correctly go inside the head of your lead character when writing a scene in your novel? David posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page: As always, thanks fo...
How do you manage the “camera” when writing scenes in your novel? Or do you even have to think about that? Dane posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page: H...
A friend of mine, Janice Thompson, is running a virtual Titanic cruise on Facebook to promote her forthcoming book about the Titanic. I ran into Janice at a writing conference this past weekend and s...
When we talk about a character’s “motivation,” exactly what do we mean by that? Diane posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page: I just recently found...
Gracie posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page: I LOVED LOVED LOVED your precis of Downton Abbey (in your newsletter) and why it rocks. Having everyone with secrets a...
What’s the best way to write each individual chapter of your novel? Or … is that the wrong question? Dusty posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page: I plan...
Tami posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page: I’m not on Facebook, I don’t tweet, and other than email, I don’t follow any of the other social media...
Nathan posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page: I’m following your Snowflake method for my novel, and while describing step 8, you mention that your spreadsheet...
I write novels featuring “geniuses in jeopardy,” so it seems fitting to pay tribute to two geniuses who’ve hit the headlines this week. Saul Perlmutter Saul Perlmutter won the Nobel...
A new release of my novel Oxygen is finally out in both e-book form and in paper! My coauthor (John Olson) and I wanted to write a space adventure novel with a strong female lead character and with a...
Two years ago at a writing conference, my friend Tosca Lee was acting really weird. She disappeared from the conference hotel for a couple of hours on some lame excuse. Then afterwards, she didn̵...
Author branding is one of the scariest and yet most necessary things an author can do. But how tight should that brand be? Can you have a “broad brand?” Teddi posted this question on my &...
Is there a rule on how many scenes your novel requires? What are the typical number of scenes in a novel and how do you know if you’ve got too many or too few? David posted this question on my ...
If you’re a good starter, but a bad finisher, how are you ever going to get your novel written? That’s a question many fiction writers face. Rebecca posted this question on my “Ask ...
What do you do when you’ve got a decent manuscript but the agents just aren’t biting? Stephannie posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page: I have a manuscr...
Later today, I’ll be sending out my e-zine with an article on the importance of having Allies. What are Allies? Allies are your writing buddies. They are your equals or near-equals. They are th...
The publishing world is changing so fast that a newbie novelist can’t help feeling confused by all the options out there. Now that e-books are hot, hot, hot, should an unpublished writer try to...
Every novelist hits the point, sooner or later, where they think they just might not actually have any talent. What do you do in that case? Should you just throw in the towel? Or muddle forward? How ...
The publishing world has changed radically in the last couple of years, thanks to those pesky e-books. Do the old rules still apply? Does chaos rule? Or are there ways to survive and thrive in the ne...
When writing your novel, do you absolutely have to have a villain? Can the “bad guy” be society? Can it be the environment? I went out of town a couple of weeks ago to go to a writing con...
What if you tried outlining your novel and it doesn’t work? What if it freezes you so you can’t write? Are you defective as a fiction writer? Molly posted this question on my “Ask A...
Ever wondered why in the world authors collaborate on writing a novel? After all, writing fiction is incredibly hard work, even when it has to be done inside a single brain. Why add all the communica...
Sometimes you can get yourself tied in a knot about whether you should or shouldn’t write the story you want to write. When in doubt, my rule is simple. Just write the story. Melina posted this...
Novelists talk about scenes all the time. But not all of fiction is composed of scenes. What is it that makes a scene a scene? David posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog”...
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