Writing Tips, Workshops, and Inspiration from Bestselling Authors

Writing advice is easy to find. There are books, articles, groups, and websites galore that offer it. What grabs my  attention are resources that pull me deeper into my characters’ heads. I’ve read a lot of books on writing. The following three stand out.     A Writer’s Guide to Active Setting by Mary Buckham   The idea of active setting is to experience a location through needs, fears, goals, and regrets. Items in the setting should feel like they matter to someone in the s

How was malaria prevented and treated in 1898?   Q:     My story is set in 1898, near the end of Queen Victoria’s reign. How would a British sailor who had been shipwrecked in a jungle treat himself for malaria? My research tells me quinine was first developed in 1820, but would it have been commonly available in 1898? How likely is it that my sailor would have had quinine in his survival equipment? If the sailor did not have quinine, how else might he have treated himself? (

So . . .             During the pandemic, a writer became a little overwhelmed—not by the number of stories that friends were putting together for different benefits, but by the conversations regarding Covid. Do we or don’t we put it in! We should, we shouldn’t!             Then one night she saw a great documentary on the Romans leaving Britain and she wanted to work on an historical novel—and then she decided that she should put Merlin’s daughter in it!             Her cont

Do series characters need a character arc? If so, how much should they change? How much “change” will fans tolerate?   Simply put, a character arc is the change a character goes through over the course of the story. Something happens in the character’s life that pushes it off balance. It might be a shark feeding off the shores of Amity Island or two robots showing up and babbling about some character named Obi-Wan Kenobi. It might be a group of armed criminals taking over a s

When I interviewed a serial killer over an extended period, I paid attention to two sources of data: what he said  and what he showed . At times, they didn’t match. Sometimes, he knew this and sometimes he didn’t. Both responses revealed maneuvers. The former targeted me, the latter protected him. That’s the one that got my attention.   I learned this mode of psychological insight when I studied a nineteenth-century Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. A keen observer, he’d

If your crime story is well written, your antagonist is not a black and white character… or as we say in the movie biz, A Big Heavy-- a one-dimensional, cardboard cutout, mustache twirling, cackling maniacal scapegoat.   The best antagonists are Killers-- layered dimensional human beings with whom we find ourselves empathizing… or maybe even liking to some degree. They could be someone close to you that you thought you knew so well. Someone who looks so harmless and safe on t

What is this elusive thing we call voice, and why is it important? Let’s address the latter first. When an agent or editor says they’re looking for something “fresh” or something that “speaks to them,” they’re talking about voice. They constantly search for new ones. It is voice, more than the story, the plot, and the characters, that grabs their attention, and sells your manuscript. So, what exactly is it? It’s the “sound” and “feel” of your work. It’s how the story affects

Senior Editor Joe Brosnan Outliers Get to Know hosts DP Lyle and Kathleen Antrim sat down with Grove Atlantic Senior Editor Joe Brosnan for a fun and enlightening chat. WATCH: Outliers YouTube Channel: GET TO KNOW: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLia8l2DJ_EnXVqej3dnFj-48RJetAYpcl LISTEN: Outliers Podcast Series On Your Favorite Outlet: https://www.outlierswritinguniversity.com/shows