One challenge for fiction writers is to see the world in multiple ways, simultaneously. Each character in a novel has their own world view and the author needs to be able to climb inside the skin of each of them. These world views will differ, just as each person is different, with different histories, perceptions, desires, and ways of understanding and explaining the world. Naturally these different world views, however subtle, will cause people to talk differently, make different choices, and often respond differently to the same situation. Each character is unique and the writer has to own ..read more

For my third novel, EMPTY LUCK, I decided to see if I could find a traditional publisher, rather than self-publish as I did with my first two books. I thought I would have a better chance of getting my work into bookstores, as well as getting an advance and maybe help with marketing. That was the hope. The experience, so far, has been both unnerving and disappointing. I immediately discovered that nobody simply finds a publisher (unless you want a vanity publisher where the author pays the publication cost. A traditional publisher does not charge the author for publishing his work.) I learned ..read more

Psychology helps explain some of the characters in my books. In my writing, I don’t always harken back to childhood development for them, but an understanding of why they behave as they do underlies their actions. Often our beliefs, motivations, and perhaps most importantly, our behaviors grow out of our family environments, experienced in childhood. Not all, I will agree. After all, there is something to be said for the nature side of the nature/nurture question. But I would argue that how we are raised, the messages we receive, what we observe, hear, and experience, chiefly from our parents ..read more

I learned the hard way to figure out the details of my important characters BEFORE starting writing. This is not the same as outlining, which I see as largely optional. No, this preparation is essential. So, before writing anything, know who your main characters are. And then for each, think through as many identifying details as possible. The obvious ones: What do they look like? How old are they? What are they interested in? What are their relationships to the other important characters? Do they work? Go to school? Do they have problems with parents, spouses, children? How about difficulties ..read more

Sometimes you don’t see a pothole in the road until you’ve smashed into it. The same is true of plot holes in books. Authors can inadvertently leave them on the road. And if a reader runs into one that the author failed to find and fix, the reader may hit it and never resume his trip. Best to find the plot hole and repair it before your reader crashes. It seems obvious that a writer should not put the cart before the horse. An action should follow logically from a prior cause. But I did create just such an illogical plot hole. It was easy to do. In the example that follows, from Empty Luck, th ..read more

Creating realistic characters for me is like method acting. That may be a bit overstated. Method actors strive to inhabit the psyche of the character they are playing so deeply they may come to believe they are that person for extended periods of time. I don’t carry it that far, but sometimes I find some part of myself, some aspect of my personality, in a character and build on that trait so it is dominant in my character. One trait that I possess in some minor way comes to embody the particular character. Sometimes I discover that has happened after I have written a scene. That is, sometimes ..read more

Some 35,000 words into Empty Luck, perhaps half way, I encountered the dreaded Writer’s Block. I had managed to paint my characters into a corner and they were in such an untenable position, I could not see how they could safely extricate themselves. I was stumped for months. Maybe there was no way out. Maybe there are those rooms one enters from which there is no exit. No. There is always a way. A writer can fall back on “an act of God,” a sudden earthquake that reduces the walls to rubble and allows the hero to walk out of the room, shaken, but free. Or the writer can kill off the threat. Am ..read more

Here’s what I’ve learned:  The funny thing about fiction is it’s only good if it reads like a true story. One consequence of that observation is:  Don’t bend your characters to fit your story. Bend your story to fit your characters. In other words, have your characters behave naturally, true to their individual natures. If they do, your story will feel true. Be sure your characters should never act inauthentically to suit a pre-determined plot line. Truth is what matters. If you can find truth in your writing, you will engage people. The worst response a reader can have is when they ..read more

Description, that is. Writers want to describe. And readers want to feel.  But how do we get the reader to “feel?” How does the writer achieve that immediacy? We do it with sensory detail. We are instructed to “Show. Don’t tell.”  We strive to provide lots of sensory information, so the reader can see what we want them to see, as well as hear and smell what we want them to sense. They will then feel they are there, in the scene. Sensory details make the experience more immediate, more real. Use all the senses, we’re told. What does the air smell like? Is there a breeze? And what soun ..read more

I’ve been struggling with my latest project, a novel tentatively titled Empty Luck.  I know what it is about and I have a pretty good sense of the story, of the plot and the characters.  What I don’t know is who the hero is. I don’t know who the book is really about. Right now I have an ensemble cast, where at least three of the main characters are on their own journeys.  You may ask “What’s wrong with that?” Maybe it is all right for some stories. After all, it was fine for Robert Altman, the filmmaker, and fine for any number of TV shows, such as “Friends.” But maybe it is not ..read more