Define story in one word. Did you say “character?” Maybe “plot?” Many people do, according to author Larry Brooks. It’s not quite right, though. The essence of story is conflict. With conflict, a force opposes your protagonist’s goal. It stirs dramatic tension and readers’ emotional investment. Without
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I was twenty when I first set foot in Manhattan. It was March of 1994. I joined my cousin and friends on a fast tour of New York City: an afternoon in Central Park; an evening at The Metropolitan Opera, watching Franco Zeffirelli’s rendition of La Bohème;
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My daughter and her class are reading Little House in the Big Woods, the classic by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It’s the first in a beloved series based on Wilder’s life. With my kids’ school moving online this month amid the pandemic, I’ve been a teacher by proxy.
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Once upon a time not long ago, I was a business writer for PayScale.com. I covered all things careers and employment in my first full-time, work-from-home gig. After several years as an editor in D.C., covering Congressional policy on energy and the environment, I relished the more-relaxed
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Last month, the Authors Guild released a report on what it means to be an author in the 21st Century. Some of the findings are grim. But, as author Joanna Penn suggests in her review of the report, they don’t include people like her: independent authors who’ve
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Fine art inspires me. If my brain ever feels hollowed out—as it sometimes does in the thick of motherhood—I spend an afternoon strolling the galleries of Chicago’s Art Institute. Without fail, it offers me a new window into a story I’m mulling, writing, or editing. Many of
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When I was working on my debut book, someone told me to write one I wanted to read. That was great advice. I thought back to my early postpartum days, when I longed for a book with perspectives from other moms who had battled postpartum depression. I
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Ernest Hemingway’s personal life was often tortured. While serving as an ambulance driver in World War I, he sustained life-threatening wounds and developed PTSD. He was married four times. His first three marriages turned sour, mostly because of his choices. He wasn’t unaware of his mistakes. In
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Storytelling is part art, part science. The art is most of it—say seventy-five percent—and the rest, science. We need both to be successful. The science part reminds us of criteria to meet and elements to include if we’re to draw and keep readers. The rest is more
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This week’s edition of the Monday quote is more of an excerpt from Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, by Benjamin Dreyer. Copy chief of Random House, Dreyer is an authority on all things style. His manual is charming, entertaining, and worthy of
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