Blog

The Latest

Babylon 5’s One Key to Character Arcs

One way. There just might be one irresistible way to track and reveal how a character evolves—and make the most of how that arc drives the...

Writing a Character Arc – Through Other Characters

If the heart of a story is the conflicts it puts a character through, and especially the choices he has to make… could there be a...

The High Road

The High Road’s Book Trailer

I love book trailers… but I hate videos, or at least how easily they can end up padding themselves out without a real reason for the...

Darth Vader Missed It and Dracula Never Tried – Character Plot Twists that Matter

What single choice could make a story? Sure, we writers have dozens of strengths we might weave into a tale, but could there be one clear...

Action Stories, to Scale – Lessons from Netflix’s Daredevil

Devil may, devil may, devil may care How many devils does Daredevil dare?   I’ve finally started watching the Netflix Daredevil series. For general storytelling fun,...

Character Interview with Angie Dennard (THE HIGH ROAD)

To celebrate the release of The High Road next week, here’s a character interview with its heroine. For its companion piece (also set around Chapter 4), see...

Launching soon

The High Road release – November 12th

“Don’t look down. Look up.” In four weeks, on November 12th, you’ll be able to do just that. The High Road will be releasing on Amazon,...

Finishing a book – thoughts

How does it feel to have a book completed, finally? A bit déjà vu, for one thing. A couple of springs ago I set down the...

You Only Get One First Time – First Book equals Best Book?

Is the first book of a series the best book, or is it something else that that book has going? It’s a question that’s been on...

No blog this week

I won’t be writing anything this week, while I deal with a family emergency. For everyone who’s given me their support on this, thank you. Your...

The High Road

When The High Road started on a Tower – a Deleted Opening Scene

Can an opening scene be too… distinctive? There’s a line writers love to quote, that when a piece of writing doesn’t work we need to “kill...

Whispered Secrets and Recorded Magic

It can be a first step to telling a story that shows more than the obvious, and one I always look for on a page—and kick...