Whenever I hear a recently-successful author say of their book’s achievement, “I never in my wildest dreams thought this would happen,” I think one of two things: They’re lying for the sake of humility or…
Browsing Category Advice
On Behalf of “Literally”
You either are a “literally” abuser or know of one. If you’re anything like me, hearing the word “literally” used incorrectly causes a little piece of your soul to whither and die. Of course I…
Overcoming the Self-Publishing Stigma
You want to self-publish but there’s still a stigma attached to it. You know it’s there. There’s glory in publishing the traditional way, getting your book chosen for publication. When you self-publish you may get…
The Power of Limitations: Rules of Psychokinesis
Imagination has no limits; physics does. In my novel, Jaden Baker, the title character can move things with his mind. Before I wrote the story from start to finish, I studied this ability, its strengths,…
Writing from Experience?
A tough one to answer. If you’ve read the book and you know me first hand, it’s obvious I’ve experienced virtually nothing in my novel–a good thing. So to say one should “write from experience” is kind of…
The Error Game
Today I got a message from a Jaden Baker reader, informing me of two errors in my book (he’d read at least 31 chapters). Neither fluke was terribly egregious, but it was still annoying, considering…
Getting out of their way: letting characters thrive
Allowing fictional characters to become real means the writer needs to get the hell out of the way.