The Slow Start: How to Open Your Novel With a Bang

One of the most annoying facts about inexperienced novelists is that they often will open their novels with tons of backstory about some character or place.  The novel might begin with something like “The war was ongoing” or “this is the reason these two people did not get along with one another” or some other

Creative Writing Techniques for the Essay Writer

In my years of teaching students how to write well formed essays, I have seen my fair share of texts written with boring verbs, humdrum descriptions and lazy constructions.  In order for a student to rise above the chaff of the mediocre scribblings of others, that student must understand that there is much to learn

Top Ten Favorite Books for This Writer

One writer to another, if you want to be a better writer, you must read good books.  I suppose you could read only books in your genre (which is recommended) but reading good authors to see what they do with the craft is quite mind-blowing and educational and will help in the long run to