What We Talk About When We Talk About ... Authenticity
A new series on the terms we use to talk about writing, and what we mean by them
THE TWISTED PLOT: Notes from a Mystery Author
This writer's take on craft and culture. Long enough to say something, short enough to finish.
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Latest posts
Sensitivity Readers Aren't a Rubber Stamp
In the final piece in the Writing Across Difference series: the purpose of a sensitivity reader
How Details Defeat Stereotypes
How perspective and significant detail transform familiar types into complex, believable characters
Stock Characters We Inherit, and What to Do With Them
On the history behind familiar types, from the gay best friend to the final girl, and why it's important to constantly revise our thinking
Question the Story You Know
Part 3 of Writing Across Difference: There's already a story about your character. You have to know it before you can complicate it.
Research Starts With You
Part 2 of Writing Across Difference: self-examination first, everything else follows.
"Waving Hello, Waving Goodbye"
I have a new short story out, inspired by a bizarre clown sighting in a Chicago cemetery.
Writing Across Difference Is Just Writing Well
Two kinds of research. Most writers underestimate both.
What Great Opening Lines Really Do
Beyond hooks and questions, first sentences establish tone, texture, and the reader’s emotional contract with the book.
Something Is Eating Men
Notes on Loneliness, Patriarchy, and Three Extraordinary Limited Series