Category Archives: Blather

Your single biggest challenge writing novels

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I’m about to put together a brand-new novel writing boot camp, but before I do that I want to know what would be most helpful to YOU. So if you want to write novels, my question to you is this… When it comes to writing novels, what’s YOUR single biggest challenge, frustration, or concern? Please →

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The Little Secret that Propels So Many Blockbuster Plots

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I was invited to present a master class at the 2022 StoryMakers conference in Provo, Utah. We all want to develop plots that delight readers. Maybe we have ideas for the characters. Maybe we have ideas for the setting. Maybe we even have a couple of scenes. But a novel needs 40, 50, 60 or →

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All you need is a little beating and robbery

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Mrs. Brown, my wife, teaches language arts for the 7th and 8th grades as well as reading comprehension. She’s big on reading. She wants to provide every opportunity for kids to not only get good at it, but also learn to love it. And so her walls are lined with bookshelves full of awesome books →

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30 books you should read before you die

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An avid reader friend of mine began reading through the books in a list called “100 books you must read before you die.” She got to Jack Kerouac’s On The Road and went to Facebook and posted the following: “I don’t get the appeal. It’s about a group of boys/men who are irresponsible, drunks, whoring →

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