Writers, send your prologue/first chapter to FtQ for a “flogging” critique. Just one in the queue. Email as an attachment.
Many of the folks who utilize BookBub are self-published, and because we hear over and over the need for self-published authors to have their work edited, It seemed to me that it could be educational to take a hard look at their first pages. If you don’t know about BookBub, it’s a pretty nifty way to try to build interest in your work. The website is here.
I’m mostly sampling books that are offered for free—BookBub says that readers are 10x more likely to click on a book that’s offered for free than a discounted book. Following is the first page and a poll. Then my comments follow, along with the book cover, the author’s name, and a link so you can take a look for yourself if you wish. At Amazon you can click on the Read More feature to get more of the chapter if you’re interested. There’s a second poll concerning the need for an editor.
Next are the first 17 manuscript lines of chapter one in mystery titled Talking to the Dead. A poll and the opening page of the first chapter follow. Should this author have hired an editor?
Beyond the window, I can see three kites hanging in the air over Bute Park. One blue, one yellow, one pink. Their shapes are precise, as though stencilled. From this distance, I can’t see the lines that tether them, so when the kites move, it’s as though they’re doing so of their own accord. An all-encompassing sunlight has swallowed depth and shadow.
I observe all this as I wait for DCI Matthews to finish rearranging the documents on his desk. He shuffles the last file from the stack before him to a chair in front of the window. The office is still messy, but at least we can see each other now.
‘There,’ he says.
I smile.
He holds up a sheet of paper. The printed side is facing him, but against the light from the window I see the shape of my name at the top. I smile again, not because I feel like smiling but because I can’t think of anything sensible to say. This is an interview. My interviewer has my CV. What does he want me to do? Applaud?
He puts the CV down on the desk in the only empty patch available. He starts to read it through line by line, marking off each section with his forefinger as he does so. Education. A levels. University. Interests. Referees.
His finger moves back to the centre of the page. University.
Did this writer need an editor? My notes and a poll follow.
Note: I’m currently reading this one. This book received an average of 4.2 stars on Amazon. I immediately liked the writing, the voice, the imagery. This opening page focuses entirely on creating a character, and it succeeds. It’s clear that she’s tense in the interview and at a loss. A sympathetic character, for sure, and I’ve been in interview situations and nervous about it. But there’s not a whole lot happening, is there? No particular consequences if she doesn’t get the job. In ordinary circumstances, I would not have turned this first page, and I’ll vote no on it here because of the lack of a story question. I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts on this one.
But in reality I did turn the page, and it was primarily because one part of the blurb on the Amazon page, connected with the strong voice and sense of character, said this: “A detective you’ll never forget.” For me, perhaps because of my continuing interest in learning more about good writing and characterization, this was enough to get the page turned. And, I must say, I’m very much enjoying the book.
Poll: what are your thoughts about this author needing an editor? Remember that the goal of the first page is to get you to turn it. If the narrative didn’t do that, then it didn’t work the way it needed to.
Writers, send your prologue/first chapter to FtQ for a “flogging” critique. Just one in the queue. Email as an attachment.
Many of the folks who utilize BookBub are self-published, and because we hear over and over the need for self-published authors to have their work edited, It seemed to me that it could be educational to take a hard look at their first pages. If you don’t know about BookBub, it’s a pretty nifty way to try to build interest in your work. The website is here.
I’m mostly sampling books that are offered for free—BookBub says that readers are 10x more likely to click on a book that’s offered for free than a discounted book. Following is the first page and a poll. Then my comments follow, along with the book cover, the author’s name, and a link so you can take a look for yourself if you wish. At Amazon you can click on the Read More feature to get more of the chapter if you’re interested. There’s a second poll concerning the need for an editor.
Next are the first 17 manuscript lines of chapter one in thriller titled No Way Back. A poll and the opening page of the first chapter follow. Should this author have hired an editor? Note: on this one, I’ll do some editing after my comments.
The register at the San Francisco Deluxe Jewelry Store whirred as sales clerk Vanessa Jordan slid the credit card receipt to the woman admiring the custom order she had bought.
“Your husband is going to adore it,” Vanessa said.
“I hope so.” Her eyes glistened. “I wanted something special for our anniversary.”
Vanessa thought her customer was beautiful. She was wearing a tailored mauve suit, had lovely brown hair, pearl studs, a matching two-row necklace.
“Trust me, he’s going to love this. I’d be happy to gift wrap it for you.”
Studying the exquisite craftsmanship, the woman considered the offer when the store’s front door chime sounded, diverting Vanessa’s attention to the security monitor under the counter. The video screen showed two people waiting at the entrance. A big woman in a long beige coat standing behind a man in a wheelchair. Access through the front door required staff to activate a remote lock. The store’s guard had just left for his usual fifteen-minute break to get a bagel at the corner bakery. Vanessa followed the security procedure, scanned the other monitors, and inventoried the store: She had her customer at the cash register. Across the floor, a man in his sixties was alone, looking at watches. There was a couple in their late twenties near the engagement diamonds, cooing at rings. Through the window to the street she saw nothing unusual. Everything was fine.
Did this writer need an editor? My notes and a poll follow.
This book received strong average of 4.5 stars on Amazon. The writing is pretty clean, though there is one point-of-view shift, noted in the edit, and some overwriting—detail that doesn’t impact the story. But there’s not much in the way of scene tension—not much is happening.
The last line in that too-long description of the store and security stuff is the one thing that could encourage a page-turn, but it’s not based on what’s happening in the scene, it’s based on reader experience. When everything is fine, we expect something to go wrong. But without that built-in expectation, there’s little reason to turn the page.
I would edit the narrative and look for a way to get the following lines on the first page:
Once inside the store, the old man leaped from the wheelchair. The woman pushing him folded it, wedging it so the automatic door could not lock behind them.
That little bit of action show us things going wrong and immediately creates a “what happens next” story question. Here are some edits to make room for getting that on the first page. It's amazing how much can be taken out without hampering the essence of the scene.
The register at the San Francisco Deluxe Jewelry Store whirred as sales clerk Vanessa Jordan slid the credit card receipt to the woman admiring the her custom order she had bought.Edited for crisper narrative.
“Your husband is going to adore it,” Vanessa said.
“I hope so.” Her eyes glistened. “I wanted something special for our anniversary.”
Vanessa thought her customer was beautiful. She was wearing a tailored mauve suit, had lovely brown hair, pearl studs, a matching two-row necklace.
“Trust me, he’s going to love this. I’d be happy to gift wrap it for you.”
Studying the exquisite craftsmanship, the woman considered the offer when theThe store’s front door chime sounded, and the, diverting Vanessa’s attention to the security monitor under the counter. The video screen security monitor under the counter showed two people waiting at the entrance. A big woman in a long beige coat standing behind a man in a wheelchair. Access through the front door required staff to activate a remote lock. The store’s guard had just left for his usual fifteen-minute break to get a bagel at the corner bakery.Vanessa followed the security procedure, scanned the other monitors, and inventoried the store: She had her customer at the cash register. Across the floor, a man in his sixties was alone, looking at watches. There was a couple in their late twenties near the engagement diamonds, cooing at rings. Through the window to the street she saw nothing unusual. Everything was fine. First sentence a break in POV, Vanessa can’t know the woman’s thoughts.
Poll: what are your thoughts about this author needing an editor? Remember that the goal of the first page is to get you to turn it. If the narrative didn’t do that, then it didn’t work the way it needed to.
Submissions sought. There’s naught in the queue. Get fresh eyes on your opening page. Submission directions below.
The Flogometer challenge: can you craft a first page that compels me to turn to the next page? Caveat: Please keep in mind that this is entirely subjective.
What's a first page in publishingland? In a properly formatted novel manuscript (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type, etc.) there should be about 16 or 17 lines on the first page (first pages of chapters/prologues start about 1/3 of the way down the page). Directions for submissions are below—they include a request to post the rest of the chapter, but that’s optional.
A word about the line-editing in these posts: it’s “one-pass” editing, and I don’t try to address everything, which is why I appreciate the comments from the FtQ tribe. In a paid edit, I go through each manuscript three times.
Before you rip into today’s submission, consider this checklist of first-page ingredients from my book, Mastering the Craft of Compelling Storytelling. While it's not a requirement that all of these elements must be on the first page, they can be, and I think you have the best chance of hooking a reader if they are.
Something is wrong/goes wrong or challenges the character
The character desires something.
The character takes action. Can be internal or external action: thoughts, deeds, emotions. This does NOT include musing about whatever.
There’s enough of a setting to orient the reader as to where things are happening.
It happens in the NOW of the story.
Backstory? What backstory? We’re in the NOW of the story.
Set-up? What set-up? We’re in the NOW of the story.
The one thing it must do: raise a story question.
Caveat: a first page can succeed without including all of these possibilities. They are simply tools you can use. In particular, a strong first-person voice with the right content can raise powerful story questions and a create page turn without doing all of the above. On the other hand, testing pages with the checklist no matter where they are in a story can help identify where a narrative lags and why it does.
Ela sends the first chapter of an upper middle grade story, Red-Eyed Daniel. There's an alternate opening and a second poll. The rest of the submission follows the break.
Blisters. Again.
My entire body was covered in them: pus-filled, bursting, itching boils. They could’ve attacked when I was at home. But no. Striking when I was sitting in the dermatology clinic, waiting for the doctor, was much funnier. Other patients had zits, warts, and strange-looking birthmarks, but I was different. One moment my skin was smooth, and two minutes later—all covered in blisters. Mom was the only one who thought I was normal.
Unfortunately, Mom wasn’t here. In front of me sat a mother with her little girl who scribbled in a coloring book. The smell of her fluorescent yellow highlighter overpowered the stench of medication and even the smell of the freshly painted doorposts.
But then the girl stopped scribbling.
“Ewww, that boy is gross!” she said, pointing at me.
My face burned and I looked at my sneakers.
“Enough, Linda. That isn’t nice.” The girl’s mother said.
“What about his friends?” the little girl continued. “Don’t they think he’s gross?”
What friends? Nobody wanted to be friends with a boy who sometimes turned into a pizza.
I wanted to jump to my feet and flee, but this time I couldn’t hide in a place with nobody around—I couldn’t miss my turn.
The voice and writing are good, and we’re dropped into an immediate scene and introduced to a likeable character who clearly has a problem. As for his desire, we can assume he wants treatment for his condition. But . . .
Once we learn of his problem, we divert into a detailed description of the waiting room, right down to the smell of paint. As it turns out, none of this impacts the story. Even middle-grade kids know what a doctor’s waiting room looks like, and this description (overwriting) slows the story. Not needed.
The girl’s reaction does let us know more about his condition, but I suspect that you had already been able to imagine that being covered with pus-filled boils was pretty gross. Not needed.
I gave this an almost because I am not expert in what works for middle-grade readers. This might work fine for them. But it didn’t for me. What follows this first page is a fair amount of equally well written setup, and we do get to some very interesting developments later. In my view, the first page could have gotten to that part right away.
Following is an alternative opening plucked from later in the chapter. It skips over much of the setup, some of which can be woven in later if needed. See what you think and give a vote.
Blisters. Again.
My entire body was covered in them: pus-filled, bursting, itching boils. They could’ve attacked when I was at home. But no. Striking when I was sitting in the dermatology clinic, waiting for the doctor, was much funnier. Other patients had zits, warts, and strange-looking birthmarks, but I was different. One moment my skin was smooth, and two minutes later—all covered in blisters. Mom was the only one who thought I was normal.
The front desk lady announced that my long-awaited turn had arrived. “Daniel Venture?” she asked, looking out above her glasses. “You’re in room seven, at the end of the hallway.”
The clinic was small but for some unknown reason I couldn’t find Room Seven. I trudged for about five minutes and as I wandered, it dawned on me that the blisters were vanishing. Rolling up my sleeve, I noticed that several erupted blisters had already dried and fallen off, revealing smooth, flawless skin. Finally, I found room seven in a narrow empty hallway.
Inside, behind a square wooden desk, sat the doctor. She wore a floor length black evening dress, and her straight black hair flowed down like a mannequin’s wig.
“Be seated,” she said softly.
But before I had a chance to step forward, the chair slid backward.
And that was when something emerged from her curtain of hair. A slim forked snake (snip)
I think there’s a good, strong story to be told and I urge Ela to see if there’s a way to get it started on the first page (note: if the doc is seated at a desk he can't see the length of her dress). A good beginning, for sure. Your thoughts?
Writers, send your prologue/first chapter to FtQ for a “flogging” critique. Just one in the queue. Email as an attachment.
Many of the folks who utilize BookBub are self-published, and because we hear over and over the need for self-published authors to have their work edited, It seemed to me that it could be educational to take a hard look at their first pages. If you don’t know about BookBub, it’s a pretty nifty way to try to build interest in your work. The website is here.
I’m mostly sampling books that are offered for free—BookBub says that readers are 10x more likely to click on a book that’s offered for free than a discounted book. Following is the first page and a poll. Then my comments follow, along with the book cover, the author’s name, and a link so you can take a look for yourself if you wish. At Amazon you can click on the Read More feature to get more of the chapter if you’re interested. There’s a second poll concerning the need for an editor.
Next are the first 17 manuscript lines of chapter one in a “sharp” thriller titled Kill Switch. A poll and the opening page of the first chapter follow. Should this author have hired an editor? Note: on this one, I’ll do some editing after my comments.
Chris Franzia expected to have only a few items on his to-do list after closing up his classroom on the last day of school. A nap in the hammock, a cold bottle of celebratory beer, some time playing with his dog, maybe a movie in the evening. He hadn’t thought much beyond that. Summer still stretched before him, an endless expanse of leisure, sunshine, and few responsibilities.
This happy, far-from-September mental fog is why he didn’t notice the white four-door sedan parked in his driveway until he had nearly rear-ended it.
Chris shut off his car, heart pounding, and got out. Two men, dressed in tailored suits, exited the sedan. As they approached Chris, they reached for their wallets, flipping out badges and ID cards.
His heart rate accelerated. Police? This couldn’t be good news. Had someone in his family died? Would they send plainclothes detectives for something like that?
“Christopher Franzia?” The one who had gotten out of the driver’s side was an older man, silver at the temples, with dark eyes and an angular, weather-beaten face. He carried an elegant dark leather briefcase.
Chris nodded, trying not to let the alarm show in his face. “That’s me.”
“I’m Special Agent Jim Hargis,” he said. “This is my partner, Special Agent Mark (snip)
Did this writer need an editor? My notes and a poll follow.
This book received high average of 4.8 stars on Amazon. Because of the high rating and positive comments, I’ll probably read this one, but as for the first page? For me, the character finding law enforcement waiting for him, while interesting, wasn’t compelling. The reason is that the stakes are both unknown and his immediate speculations—not good news, someone had died—were not, for me, compelling.
There’s some overwriting here, as well, and for me that’s not a good sign. When I do read these free BookBub books, I find that I frequently skip a lot, especially in YA dystopian fiction (too much angst). Here are some edits I would have suggested to this author.
Chris Franziaexpected to have only a few items on his to-do list after closing up his classroom on the last day of school. A nap in the hammock, a cold bottle of celebratory beer, some time playing with his dog, maybe a movie in the evening. He hadn’t thought much beyond that. Summer still stretched before him, an endless expanse of leisure, sunshine, and few responsibilities.I’d rather have something more to build tension than this description of state of mind. I already get it.
ThisHis happy, far-from-September mental fog is why he didn’t notice the white four-door sedan parked in his driveway until he had nearly rear-ended it. This is a bit tangled. Suggest: Wrapped in his happy, far-from-September mental fog, he nearly rear-ended a white four-door sedan parked in his driveway.
Chris shut off his car, heart pounding, and got out.Two men, dressed in tailored suits, exited the sedan. As they approached Chris,they reached for their wallets, flippingflipped out badges and ID cards. Chris doesn’t need to get out of the car yet, get on with the scary action.
His heart rate accelerated. Police? This couldn’t be good news. Had someone in his family died? Would they send plainclothes detectives for something like that?
“Christopher Franzia?” said theThe one who had gotten out of the driver’s side was an older man, silver at the temples, with dark eyes and an angular, weather-beaten face. He carried an elegant dark leather briefcase. detailed description of the agent doesn’t impact story
Chris nodded, trying not to let the alarm show in his face. “That’s me.”
“I’m Special Agent Jim Hargis,” he said. “This is my partner, Special Agent Mark (snip)
You can turn the page and read more here.
Poll: what are your thoughts about this author needing an editor? Remember that the goal of the first page is to get you to turn it. If the narrative didn’t do that, then it didn’t work the way it needed to.
I came across an article on the Huffington Post titled “We Asked Sci-Fi Writers About Climate Change.” In a response to the removal of references to climate change on the White House website, science fiction authors were asked to discuss speculative or fictional solutions to how climate change is discussed (and in some cases ignored) today.
I think it’s pretty cool for writers to be recognized for their capability to imagine meaningful solutions to problems along with their stories. I, for example, imagined a possible route to gun control in my speculative novel, Gundown—you can download a free ebook copy here. The authors and the headlines of their thoughts in the article are:
Jeff VanderMeer, “What we as writers need to do is better portray the complex truth of our situation>
Thoraiya Dyer, “Huan overpopulation is a relentless driver of climate change.
Lidia Yuknavitch, “We need to move away from colonization impulses and toward radical intimacy with the planet and everything on it.”
Emmi Itäranta, “The sky, too, speaks in other voices now: those of rain, and wind, and animals.”
John Scazlie, “But it seems to me that one doesn’t have to go into science fiction to significantly deal with climate change.”
Submissions sought. There’s naught in the queue. Get fresh eyes on your opening page. Submission directions below.
The Flogometer challenge: can you craft a first page that compels me to turn to the next page? Caveat: Please keep in mind that this is entirely subjective.
What's a first page in publishingland? In a properly formatted novel manuscript (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type, etc.) there should be about 16 or 17 lines on the first page (first pages of chapters/prologues start about 1/3 of the way down the page). Directions for submissions are below—they include a request to post the rest of the chapter, but that’s optional.
A word about the line-editing in these posts: it’s “one-pass” editing, and I don’t try to address everything, which is why I appreciate the comments from the FtQ tribe. In a paid edit, I go through each manuscript three times.
Before you rip into today’s submission, consider this checklist of first-page ingredients from my book, Mastering the Craft of Compelling Storytelling. While it's not a requirement that all of these elements must be on the first page, they can be, and I think you have the best chance of hooking a reader if they are.
Were I you, I'd examine my first page in the light of this list before submitting to the Flogometer. I use it on my own work.
A First-page Checklist
It begins to engage the reader with the character
Something is wrong/goes wrong or challenges the character
The character desires something.
The character takes action. Can be internal or external action: thoughts, deeds, emotions. This does NOT include musing about whatever.
There’s enough of a setting to orient the reader as to where things are happening.
It happens in the NOW of the story.
Backstory? What backstory? We’re in the NOW of the story.
Set-up? What set-up? We’re in the NOW of the story.
The one thing it must do: raise a story question.
Caveat: a first page can succeed without including all of these possibilities. They are simply tools you can use. In particular, a strong first-person voice with the right content can raise powerful story questions and a create page turn without doing all of the above. On the other hand, testing pages with the checklist no matter where they are in a story can help identify where a narrative lags and why it does.
Tara sends the first chapter of The Day I Met Bill Murray. The rest of the submission follows the break.
Earth can be a really weird and strange place, but I’m sure that you already knew that. To explain to you my little corner of the planet would do nothing but bore you. And for you to stop reading now would be a great misfortune… because you have no idea the strange adventure I’m about to take you on.
Now I know from experience there are people who cannot tell a story. They get bogged down in the details, many of which have no bearing on the main event. They drag their words as they near the end, trying to absorb as much of your attention as possible. To be in possession of someone’s attention is like a drug, and certain storytellers go so far as to drink the bong water in order to make that good feel last forever. That’s not me, no sir. The story I’m about to tell you is about the day I met Bill Murray.
You may think it’s unimportant, and maybe even a little self-indulgent, to tell you about myself before explaining the events that led me to meet our collective national treasure that is Mr. Murray. But it’s not. It’s really important that you get to know me first. It just is.
I was born in a small town in Ohio called Akron. You may know it as the butt of many jokes in TV and movies when big-city dwellers complain about visiting a small, amenity-free mid-western town. That town is usually Akron. Whenever that happens, us Akronites light up like a Christmas tree. We’ll pause the television and yell to all inhabitants of the house “hey, (snip)
Good voice, clear writing, all to the good. The voice is almost charming enough to draw me on, but not quite. When we lapse into background and a description of life in Akron, I had no interest. Yeah, the character’s life is boring . . . guess what? That makes for a boring narrative, too. Having looked at the rest of the chapter, I have no idea why all the detail about the character's life and Akron bear on the story about Bill Murray.
What is wrong in this character’s life? What goes wrong? What does the character need to have or to have happen? What are the stakes? The answers: nothing. For my money, you don’t have a story yet. I think it would be wise to skip all the stuff about Akron, get right to (and shorten) the discovery of Bill’s website, and get on with the story. I should add that I think there should be a motivation for Murray to have such a website somewhere along the line—why is it there? Start later, start with something happening, and make this good writing pay off with a story.
Publishers Weekly operates BookLife, a website dedicated to Indie publishers. If you have a project there, you can apply for a review by Publishers Weekly, no fees involved.
The website tells you that “We receive over a thousand books a month from self- and trade publishers.” The email notice I received of the review being posted said, "Of the hundreds of self-published titles received each month, only a handful of the very best are selected for review." I was gratified when Hiding Magic cleared that high hurdle.
It often amazes me to learn how others see a story I’m so familiar with and to discover what they see as the important elements. For example, the reviewer classifies Hiding Magic as “paranormal,” and I never saw it that way. On the other hand, that’s a genre that takes in a wide scope of storytelling. For me, it’s science fiction and a thriller.
Rhamey draws a realistic and sympathetic portrait of the uses and consequences of magic in this contemporary urban fantasy. On a wintry night in Chicago, Gabe River rescues a suicidal Latina teenager who’s freezing to death in the snow. Then her face flickers and she’s revealed to be a white woman. She also displays a shocking ability to communicate with his autistic son and can even heal his injured horse. She is Annie, a centuries-old member of a clan of beings who manipulate life energy to heal or harm. Annie is running from K.B. Volmer, a sadistic Homeland Security agent who believes her to be a terrorist, and from Clanmaster Drago, her grief-stricken father-in-law, who blames her for the death of his son. Drago vows to wipe out humankind by manipulating DNA to create a fast-acting infectious disease, and Annie must alert the other clans to Drago’s plans. Rhamey focuses as much on his racially diverse characters’ emotions and goals as on the intricacies of magical properties, crafting a solid paranormal story with an epic feel.
If you read the reviews on the BookLife review page, you’ll see that not all—or even a majority—are completely positive, which makes me feel just fine with a verdict of “a solid paranormal story with an epic feel.”
If you’re interested in Hiding Magic, you can learn more here—there’s a sample chapter and the opportunity to purchase an autographed paperback or a Kindle edition. They are also available on Amazon, but not an autographed version. If you do read Hiding Magic and like it, I would appreciate a review on Amazon.
As a student of writing, you might find Hiding Magic to be an interesting read because of the way it handles four very different point-of-view characters—the main protagonist’s story is told in first person, the other three in third person. Oh, it’s also told in the present tense. I know that some readers don’t like that, but I had a particular reason to do it that way, but to reveal that would be a major spoiler.
Today I’m prepping for doing an all-day (10 to 5) workshop on Saturday for the Oregon Writers Colony in Portland, Oregon. They support writers through workshops and an annual writers conference (this year is their 30th), and have a house that is used as a writer’s retreat. You can see more about the OWC here.
I’ll start off the day with a Killer First Page session. Workshoppers have submitted first chapters/prologues, just as writers do here for a critique on FtQ. In fact, the process is the same. I hand out copies of the first pages, the class reads and makes notes, then votes on whether to turn the page or not. We then discuss why or why not, much as happens here, and I offer my notes. I expect to once again have writers’ eyes opened to what strengthens or weakens opening pages through this immersion technique.
Included in reading and voting is a bit of lecture on story questions and the first-page checklist as aids for analyzing and writing first pages. That should take up most of the morning since we can have thorough discussion of craft with no real time restraints.
In the afternoon we’ll dig into craft. The first couple of segments will deal with presentations about experiential description and dynamic dialogue. Writing exercises are included, including one that features a dragon. Writers will read aloud what they’ve created and I’ll be doing some critiquing and coaching. The dialogue exercise is particular fun—I solicit a few random lines of dialogue from the class, and then they used the dialogue in writing a brief scene for a scenario that I’ll give them.
Then comes a shift in focus from the narrative craft side of things to the storytelling side. We’ll dig more into creating a strong narrative tension from the beginning through writing in media res. I’ll get into techniques for creating tension on every page, and explore creating characters that readers can care about or connect to.
All in all, I’m looking forward to a fun day—there is nothing I enjoy more than talking with writers about writing and coaching them to lift their art and craft. Very rewarding. If you’d like more information on the workshops I offer, go here. I do them at writers conferences and in smaller, more private sessions for writers groups.