Best-selling book The Game was written by writer and the (self-titled) greatest Pick-Up Artist in the world, Neil Strauss. The Game charts the author’s rise as he delved into the sub-community of Internet-based seducers and Lotharios facing up to his own fears and anxieties about interacting with women- even if only to ask directions on […]
According to recent surveys, over 70% of people questioned said they would like to write a book. This article touches on three key points that just might help them - and you - do just that!
First key point: willpower. Although 70% of people questioned may well have said they would like to write a book, […]
If you have decided to write a novel, the story that exists within it extends way beyond the book itself. This ‘backstory’ is what helps give your book depth: here are a few points to keep in mind about the ‘past’ of the book you’re writing.
A novel may encompass any period of time, from an […]
The flip side of the success coin is failure. In our culture, failure has almost become a taboo subject - and yet failure simply means lack of success. Learning from failure to gain the success you want isn’t magic - it’s called planning. In writing this is crucial, so let’s have a look at some […]
Short stories have not always found their place in great literature. Thanks to great writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Anton Chekhov and others, short stories have received great notoriety.
Short story writing is a unique art and vastly different than novel writing in form and purpose. Where novel writing is complicated, has many things […]
Common wisdom dictates that if a grammatical “mistake” becomes common enough, it is no longer a mistake. The rules of grammar supposedly adapt to real-world usage. Real-world usage aside, the pervasive use of “me and so-and-so” in our culture drives me nuts!
It used to be, “George and I went to the store.” […]
I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions. ~James Michener
Writing has always been a highly pleasurable form of art for me. I find it surprising that many people view it as something to avoid as much as possible. The most baffling thing to me is how […]
So what does it actually take to make it as a selling writer? And beyond that, what does it take to ride out the tough spots in a highly competitive field?
These are questions I get asked on a regular basis from readers, as well as people who are just plain curious about someone who […]
During the twenty years I’ve taught writing, hundreds of students have expressed the belief that success and personal integrity are mutually exclusive.
The Lifewriting? approach to fiction suggests that not only do these two qualities overlap, but that the safest, surest, most satisfying path to discovering your true voice, your deepest creative flow, and […]
There is a great deal of misunderstanding about what that particular branch of literature called “Science Fiction” actually consists of. Is it space-ships and monsters? Time machines? Galactic empires? Well, its all of those things, and often none of them.
Science Fiction, broadly speaking, is story-telling that deals with the impact of […]
