Elopement makes an interesting idea for a story. Why does a couple elope? A writer who organizes the secret details into a plot arc along with character arcs develops a successful tale. On September 13, 1846, Elizabeth Barrett eloped with Robert Browning. Why? In 1838, Barret published her first poetry volume and in 1844 her […]
Website and Blog
Time to Write Now will be down for a few days while my website master works on my site. I’m not sure when that will happen, but sometime between late next week and August 12th. A new look replaces the row of books and the green background. The blog’s name and link will be the […]
Revision: A Creative Approach to Writing and Rewriting Fiction by Kaplan
A dear writer friend of mine sent me David Michael Kaplan’s book called Revision; A Creative Approach to Writing and Rewriting Fiction. On page 5, he compares writers to musicians. A cellist or bel canto singer might have talent and craft, but without endless hours of practice. . . he’ll never get to Carnegie Hall.” Writers […]
Using Fog in Writing
I like fog, however, last night as a few hundred people claimed their spot at the Emeryville shoreline park at about 6:00, a thin layer of fog threatened to block the sunset and promised to become thicker. Our friends from Sacramento who own a boat docked at the Emeryville harbor invited us to join them […]
“Saving Sheena” a Short Story by Jan Davies
Jan Davies short story called “Saving Sheena” is in the Mainstream Fiction section of Written Across the Genres, my anthology available on Amazon and Kindle and can be ordered at a local bookstore. Sheena’s grown and married children are worried that she’s lonely living by herself. Here’s is an excerpt: “All five pairs of eyes […]
Writing Quote by Brooke Warner
I often tell writers I work with, “Your book already knows what it wants to be,” and I believe that our calling to write the book we’re supposed to write is a whisper–something between intuition and following your inner calling. We receive these whispers all the time. Some of us ignore them or are so […]
Secondary Characters Deserve Attention
Do you have secondary characters in your novel or story? Have you given them enough attention? Or are you using them as if they were props? As writers, we spend time in character development for our protagonist and antagonist, and tend to throw in a secondary character for dialogue or for a cause of some […]