New Podcast Up: There And Back Again Once More

In the first podcast of 2015, we discuss a little bit of literary failure before launching into why we continue writing even in the face of adversity. What keeps you going? We also discuss the final Hobbit film and how it holds up to the text of Tolkien’s work. Finally, we answer some listener mail

Killing the Narrator

When creating an outline for a novel, I think very carefully about point of view. The biggest problem I usually have is picking a point of view that works for the entire novel but also has a thematic purpose. Today’s most common point of view is third person singular which follows one character throughout the

Sample Chapter: This Broken Earth

I thought I would post a sample chapter of my latest novel.  It is one I have spent some time with and is also one in which the voice is right.  I would like to set it up by saying that this novel is told through the voices of all of the characters.  Each chapter

In Sickness and In Health: A Test of Determination

I have spent the entire school year in the Christmassy atmosphere of good health, watching all others around me come down with some type of bug and wringing my hands ‘neath the cool comfort of the GermX dispenser.  At last I have succumbed to one of the dangers of teaching teens: getting sick. Today is

Pulling Back on the Reigns

I’ve never really ridden in a horse drawn carriage much in life, (but if these gas prices keep going up I may soon do so) but I think of the horse drawn carriage as a perfect metaphor for my writing process. Think of the horse as the wild animal of my imagination, the carriage as the finished product,

First Person and Suspense

Probably one of the biggest hurdles I have had to jump writing my latest novel is point of view. I thought of writing it in first person but then if I were to put my hero in peril (and I will several times) the reader has the happy place of knowing that the hero is