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When my daughter was two years old, still grasping at the concept of creating her own stories, she still understood their power. I know this because she would sit on her bed at story time, hold the book in her lap unopened, and turn to myself and her mother saying, "scary story." She would annunciate the scary, elongating the...

Your first draft is not your final draft.

My three-year-old tells me stories about crocodiles. She loves them. Not as though she wants one as a pet, but she loves using them as villains.

Which may seem weird because I don't really write fantasy. But magic systems are much more than just magic. A magic system envisions the richer, deeper roots of the world and explores how each root connects beneath the surface of the story.

Can you learn anything from reading the classics?

Character has taken on many iterations over the years. They are often considered the protagonist when we first think about character in our stories but character is anyone who passes through.

Writer's Block is an Opportunity

Most often, the books I read guide me to the type of book they are in the first paragraph, first page, or at least by the end of the first chapter. Think about how the first paragraph of a book sets the scene or the mood, not only for what's taking place at that moment but also pointing to the mood of the book beyond those early pages. ...

Life is too short to read a bad book.