Developmental Editor, Book Coach, Best-Selling Author

Unless you are extraordinarily blessed, you probably are stronger as a writer in some areas than in others.

A professional editor should tell you what you're doing right, not just what your challenges are.

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I'm delighted to have been interviewed by the lovely and prolific fellow author and editor Christina Boyd of The Quill Ink, a wonderful site whose blog is packed with advice and insights for authors, and much more.

Enjoy!

Let's bust up the seven biggest myths about novelists. If you're a novelist, an aspiring novelist, a devourer of novels, or all of the above, may the following illuminate, encourage, and inspire you.

I spent much of my life buying into all those "Truths" about novelists. Some of them were assumptions I made over a lifetime of reading novels, and others I picked up from various books and blogs on writing.

When I started writing, I figured that if I didn't fit into one of those so-called Truths I'd read about, there had to be something wrong with me. It took me a long time to realize that it wasn't a question of right or wrong; rather it's that what works for another novelist might not work for me, and vice versa. Read More 

THE SEVEN ELEMENTS OF A COMPELLING  STORY

1. WHAT DOES YOUR CHARACTER WANT? (a/k/a, THE GOAL)

Some examples of goals:

• Love, appreciation
• recognition
• the need to be understood
• defeat of an enemy
• basic human survival
• recovery from trauma
• closure after tragedy
• finding a reason to live
• finding a purpose
• making peace with the past
• triumph over adversity of any kind.

2. WHAT'S STOPPING HIM/HER FROM GETTING IT? (a/k/a CONFLICT):

• Conflict takes many forms: Oneself (we are our own worst enemy), other people, situations. 
• Infuse conflict into every scene.

3. WHY SHOULD YOUR READERS CARE ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER'S STRUGGLE? (a/k/a SYMPATHY)

• Reveal the truth about your hero, even if he doesn't know it himself.
• Give your characters layers and dimension—even villains are human beings; even heroes have flaws. 
• Go easy on the self-pity, even infuse humor if possible. 

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