How to Train Your Reader
This post actually comes courtesy of an experience I had over the weekend that did not involve readers at all. Rather, it involved me interacting with a complete stranger in a way that felt very…
writing
My Build-A-Character Moment
You know what’s amazing about working in a field you love that happens to collide with your hobbies? That moment where you’re doing a hobby thing and suddenly realize a whole new approach to something…
Different Does Not Mean Unrelatable
Shortly after the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement got going in 2014, I felt stumped. Granted, I was very new to the book world then, but I was also someone who’d been reading avidly for two decades and…
When Cliffhangers Work (And When They’re Just Annoying)
I first heard the Wicked Original Broadway Cast recording in 2024, and within the first few seconds of “Loathing,” I was hooked. It became my favorite musical and has stayed so until today. When I…
4 Techniques to Keep Readers Turning Pages of a Multi-Pov Novel
Turning a page is such a small, simple action. And yet, getting readers to continuously do it several hundred times can be a herculean task. Of course, the turning of pages can be metaphoric, and…
Writing a Book with Multiple POVs Part 2: Story
Picture it: Holiday, year of choice. Fifteen people sit around a table, three of whom decide they will tell the story of an event they all recently attended. As they do, the other twelve sit…
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Normal
…because it makes no sense to do that if you don’t— Confused? Thought so. Now imagine that sentence had gone on for pages, but instead of whatever it was talking about, it detailed a sudden…
Writing a Book with Multiple POVs Part 1: Structure
Writing multiple perspectives in a novel can be likened to the common idiom “there are two sides to every story,” where you replace “two” with however many characters’ points-of-view (or POVs) are used to tell…
If at First You Don’t Make the Cut…
If no news is good news, then what’s news that isn’t good or bad news? (If you don’t know, it’s okay. I don’t either.) A few weeks ago, I wrote this post about my journey…
Can I turn My Table-Top Role-Playing Game Into a Novel? Yes, But It Will Take Some Work
I played in my first TTRPG campaign at age seven. My parents really didn’t mess around with “starting them early.” My character was a thief-type named Nara. She had dark hair (like me), violet eyes…