Today, a bestselling writer friend and I were discussing the recent disaster in my life. No, nobody died, though I don’t preclude the possibility that someone could die in the near future. By my hand. (Insert name of contractor.)

My wife and I moved into a new house two...

As an editor, one of my pet peeves is the writer who thinks he needs to put every last detail on paper. It might be a place or a person. It might be a room. Whatever it is, the description becomes exhausting. “I want them to see it,” the writer usually says.

I’ve red-pe...

AVOID HO-HUM DIALOGUE - FLIP THE SCRIPT

While doing research, I came across a story I think can be very helpful in writing dialogue. You’ve probably heard of Method Acting. Stripped down, it’s a technique where the actor submerges into a character, essentially becoming...

Here's an excellent eye-opener on how to go about pitching your book from Lee Constantine, CMO of Publishizer.com. 

https://medium.com/publishizer/how-to-write-a-book-pitch-that-gets-noticed-not-ignored-e015d9cde12a 

RUN AWAY FROM QUERYING IN AUGUST!!

Here’s why. All the big publishers and many of

the medium publishers are headquartered in New York City. In August, NYC becomes unbearably hot and humid. So, what do most of the top editors do? They get out of town.

NYC has this wonderfu...

How many times have you been told to develop an elevator pitch? A couple fast lines to capsulize your manuscript?

So, you spend days, maybe weeks, crafting the perfect three sentences. You develop a great tag line. You go to writing conferences. You get to use your pitc...

Q: What’s a blurb?

A: It’s a short explanation of the plot and characters of your novel, designed to hook the interest of an agent, an editor, or a reader.

Q: You mean a synopsis?

A: No.

For queries, most agents ask for a cover letter, a brief synopsis, and the first chapt...

An effective way to match your villain to your hero is to create an asymmetrical relationship between their strengths and weaknesses.

When strengths and weaknesses are not matched, the relationship between the characters becomes interesting. The opportunity for conflict...

OK, by popular demand, here's the skinny on how to get this straight.

THERE is an indication of a place: Put the basket there. Go over there.

It can also be used with a "be" verb to indicate the existence of something: There is a house in the woods.

Rarer use might be i...

The bestselling novel, THE FIRECRACKER KING, will be available free for 5 days on Amazon Kindle, to promote the launch of the sequel, BODY DROP, on May 1. 

Out right now, TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL contains two humorous short stories that introduce characters of THE FIRECRACKE...