Searching for Rude A poem Mind your manners. Every decent lady knows to mind her manners, The mother says as she wipes the corner of her mouth With a dainty napkin of linen. Mind your manners, she says after the almost discreet belch. Mind your manners, she says as her daughters reach For…

If by aren’t allowed, you mean you forbid it then who are you to forbid? If by write you mean think, tell stories, try to understand, to recreate you in a way that isn’t such a jackass, I’m sorry but you can only be improved and you’re missing out. The…

“My heart aches,” he says as if that will change her mind. He quotes Keats, memorizes it the way others memorize song lyrics, Drunk, but not on hemlock or an opiate. Drunk One minute and the next. Keats is not pretentious enough a poet to impress Someone who sings with…

K.M. Weiland writes, “Character chemistry can make all the difference in creating a superior story.” So, how do you put the chemistry sizzle between characters in your story? That’s a big question for a lot of us writers because a lot of readers want romance and fire and good swoony…

Weekly writing links and a cool exercise Every Monday, we’re sending out a quick round-up of what we talked about and some cool links to check out to help all of us become better writers. As a reminder, on Wednesdays the WRITE BETTER NOW podcast comes out here (and…

I am a big fan of boiling things down to simple components and not spending a ton of time on things blathering on, so let’s get to it, okay? Here’s a link to listen to the episode instead. Novel structure and character development are related. Not just that, they are creepy best friends. You know the kind…

A quick writing exercise for those white-box scenes, plus some cool links. Every Monday, we’re sending out a quick round-up of what we talked about and some cool links to check out to help all of us become better writers. As a reminder, on Wednesdays the WRITE BETTER NOW podcast…