Start Writing Your Book! Method 1: Character Sketches

So, you want to write.  Have a cool idea rattling around in the back of your mind, keeping you up at night?  Trying to start the next book in your series, or is this your first?  Either way, you’re surfing the internet instead of writing, so you’re not sure how to get started, right? Writers are often asked where they […]

Men Speak Out: What They Love and Hate About Women – PART 1

I have results from the six-question survey about what men really think about women, in response to a related article, In Praise of the Modern Gentleman.  An encouraging number of Manly Men responded, and I was astounded by their feedback.  Some of their answers I expected (What would you say to all the women in the world?  “Show us your ____!”),  but mostly I […]

Dialogue FAIL? Diagnose the Motive

Sometimes dialogue doesn’t work, but why does it fail? A reader can become confused or skeptical because of any number of issues with the writing, but I think questions in dialogue are the most common problem area.  This is probably as true in real-life dialogue as it is in fiction. Questions are more about the motive than the one-dimensional wording.  […]

Calling All Manly Men: Are You Hungry?

CALLING ALL MANLY MEN: Tell the world what you really think about women, and you could have dinner on me at Outback Steakhouse. Be a part of my next blog article, “Men Speak Out: What They Love and Hate About Women,” part 2 of a series launched last weekend with In Praise of the Modern […]

In Praise of The Modern Gentleman

Chivalry is not dead.  It’s just rare. Perhaps confused by widespread poor manners or cowed by extreme feminism, the modern gentleman can be a tentative creature.  Should he hold the door open for a girl and risk being berated for assuming she’s incapable of doing it herself?  It’s risky business, and it shouldn’t be. I’m crazy about a gentleman, whether he’s eight years old […]

FAIL! Avoid Three Common Mistakes in Writing Musician Characters

Musicians are a sensual, moody and brilliant bunch.  Often eccentric or intense types, they make great characters in fiction.  Music as a topic provides a rich sensory palette.  I get excited about musician characters.  Sometimes. At my day job I’m a violinist–master’s degree, eighteen years experience teaching and “gigging”–so I usually notice when musician characters in a novel screw […]