Blog

(painting: Olga Rykova) I'm often asked: What categorizes a novel as either "literary" or "popular"? What’s the difference? Popular novels usually fall into a half-dozen categories called genres: romance, mystery, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Of...

The Plot / Character Debate Have you ever noticed how critics will sometimes categorize a novel as either “plot driven” or “character driven"? If that's got you puzzled about how it applies to the story you're writing, I can understand why. They make it sound like you...

The Prime Time Dream When you’re writing a story, do you dream of seeing it one day made into a film? I certainly do. So I’m thrilled to let you know that the dream may soon be a reality! It’s happening with my novel Entrapped. Working with my creative partners –-...

What Do Agents and Publishers Really Want? In my career as an author I've faced every challenge you're facing. Having had ten novels published, with sales of over half a million books, I know what agents and publishers are looking for, what they want—and don’t want....

MYTH-BUSTERS Myths can distort and darken a writer's world. I want your creative world to be sunshine-bright. So I offer here some myth-busting to chase away the clouds. Myth #1. It’s Impossible To Get Published These Days This myth says the publishing industry is a...

"I couldn't put it down!" Authors love to hear readers say those words. So do our publishers. But what, exactly, is this mysterious literary essence that hooks a reader? What holds them so hard, they simply must keep reading, often long into the night? I unlock the...

How To Write a Winning "Hook" Do you slave over your story’s opening sentence? Good! That’s what successful writers do: write it, revise it, and tweak it until they’re sure it will fire the reader's desire to know what comes next. A first sentence must be a "hook."...

Writing? An extreme sport? Hell, yes. We rappel up rock-faces of chapters. We raft through rapids of plot. We hang-glide on unstable character arcs, and bobsled down ice alleys of dialogue, then run a marathon of revision. Sometimes, like the fellow in the Stephen...

  A big "Thank You" bouquet to Karen Alison. Karen is a gifted emerging writer who sent me the manuscript of her debut novel for my evaluation. After mulling my comments and suggestions, she did a rewrite, then sent me a testimonial of how happy she was with the...

  I’m a big fan of bestselling author John le Carré, so I’ve often applied admiring adjectives to his novels. But I came across an unfamiliar adjective in a review of his latest book. The critic wrote: “Le Carré’s prose remains brisk and lapidary.” Lapidary? What...

Exciting update! I recently posted here about a fine writer I mentored – Christine Higdon – whose debut novel The Very Marrow of Our Bones was just released. Well, the Toronto Star has just given it a glowing review, calling it “a wondrous book.” Absolutely true! I’m...

The package arrived on my doorstep. A crisp new book, sent by the author, Christine Higdon. Her debut novel. I felt a sweet excitement, because I had mentored Christine in the early stage of her manuscript, and now here was the published book in all its bright...

Knowing where to start your novel is crucial. It’s also difficult. New writers often make the mistake of beginning with description – pages and pages that describe characters, backstory, setting – before the story gets rolling. The trouble with this is that readers...

A musical and a funeral. What, you might ask, could these two disparate experiences possibly have in common? Well, they both set my writer’s senses humming. First, my daughter and I saw the Stratford Festival’s brilliant, boisterous production of the musical comedy...

Has this ever happened to you? You’re at a party, telling a new acquaintance about a plot twist for your story, and they look at you with polite bewilderment, and perhaps a wince of boredom. But later, you tell a fellow writer about the same plot twist and they’re...

There’s no satisfaction like completing your book and celebrating, because you know it’s really good – the kind of book that can attract a top agent and win an offer from a major publisher. But moving forward all alone can be a challenge. You may be finding yourself a...

Story creation is a joy. But sometimes the process can lead us on a twisty path. I’m at work on a new novel with the working title Fearful Symmetry. I say “new” but the idea for it came to me years ago. Sixteen years, to be exact. At that time, I’d had a satisfying...

Research is part of every writer’s work. Years ago, writing my first historical novel, I discovered an eye-opening research resource close to home. My husband. The Queen's Lady is set in England during the reign of King Henry VIII. Now, Henry and my husband share no...

I spoke by Skype recently to a very gifted writer I’m mentoring, and he told me his previous attempts at fiction were an embarrassment of “purple prose," the phrase writers use for overblown, overwritten language. He had, he said, cured himself of that failing. I told...

If you’re a writer, you delight in words. Word patterns. Word play. Word power. The love of words is in our DNA. Words are also the most basic tool you have in creating a story. The wise writer chooses words very carefully. Mentoring a writer recently, I pointed out...

Announcing! I'm so excited to share this with you. My new online program "Your Path to a Page-Turner" is now live. I designed this program to help you create the kind of book that excites agents and publishers and thrills readers. A page-turner. A book that leaves...

In my career as an author, I've faced every challenge you're facing now. Writing a compelling book takes serious work, but the rewards are so worth the effort. Let me tell you a true story. Years ago, like every new writer trying to break in with their first novel, I...

Finished your book? First, congratulate yourself. Writing a book is a marathon, and only those who’ve made it to “The End” understand the determination it requires. Now you want to get it published, and that's your next challenge. In today’s tough marketplace you get...

A half-dozen genres constitute “popular” fiction: romance, mystery, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Genres matter to publishers, because a book has a better chance of selling when readers know its category: there’s a proven market. So, the likeliest...

In my career as an author, I've faced every challenge you're facing now. Having had ten novels published with sales of over half a million books, I know what agents and publishers are looking for, what they want—and don’t want. What they always want, whatever the...

There's always one obstacle that gets in the way of writing, isn't there? When I was starting out (eleven novels ago), my personal obstacle was what I call the "tyranny of expectations," that unhelpful inner voice demanding perfection in a first draft. I learned how...