Plot Devices: Constructing a Novel

This week I have been plotting out my new novel tentatively titled The Painful Best.  In the process of creating characters, tying the plot threads together and creating some terrible red herrings for my readers to follow, I have been going through some new and interesting things to do to my new novel to make it

A Word About Flashbacks

The flashback can be one of the most wonderful and magical ways to give background for a character.  It can also become a horribly overused device that can cripple a text.  It works for comic effect on Family Guy because its overuse becomes the butt of the joke, but when writing fiction it can be something