Looking for some quick, easy ways to improve your writing? Here’s a free series of short (each is under 5 minutes) writing tips videos. They focus on some of the most common prose problems that I’ve seen writers struggle with over my two decades of teaching creative writing. My goal in making these videos was […]
Create a Comic Book in 10 (simple?) Steps
September 10, 2019 by · 5 Comments
Comics and other graphic texts are one of the fastest growing areas of publishing, and they seem to be getting stronger each year. If you haven’t considered getting graphic, you might want to. This post is for creators, especially writers, who are interested in graphic story-telling. Even if your art skills are limited to crooked, one-armed stick figures, […]
The One Thing I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Creating Characters
April 24, 2019 by · 5 Comments
There’s a lot of conflicting advice out there about characters. Do you make them quirky and unusual (like Amelia Bedelia), or more ordinary (like Charlie Brown)? Do you make them heroic (someone readers might aspire to be, like Katniss), or deeply flawed (like FH in Jesus’s Son)? Do you make them raw and human (like […]
Writing Advice Part II (my top six other best pieces of advice)
April 19, 2019 by · 10 Comments
The single best piece of writing advice I ever got was to write the book you most want to read (more on that here). After that, here are six other bits of writing advice that have made the biggest difference for me (and that I need to keep reminding myself of to keep on going). […]
The Last Panther Teaching and Book Club Kit
April 21, 2017 by · 5 Comments
Looking for materials to enhance using The Last Panther in the classroom or book club? This is the place to find and share those. Although my first goal is always to write an entertaining story, it’s my hope that The Last Panther will help students creating vivid, personal connections to several areas of interest for 4th-7th grades, including: —Understanding […]
AI & Fiction: Limitations, How It’s Helpful, and What Writers Need to Do to Keep the Human Element Alive
March 16, 2023 by · Leave a Comment
Writers, if you’re curious/nervous about AI text generators like ChatGPT taking over, you might find this article helpful. My students and I spent weeks exploring ChatGPT to explore its uses and limitations for writing fiction. If you’re at all worried about being replaced by a machine, you’ll definitely want to read this. What Writers Need […]
Broken Saviors (issues 1-4) now on Amazon
December 5, 2022 by · Leave a Comment
Aliens came to save us. They thought it would be easy. They were wrong. “A playfully original beginning to what promises to be an epic alien invasion story…I like it. It’s a solid piece of work.” —Fanboy Comics —Issue #1 (only 99 cents, or free on Kindle Unlimited!) —Issue #2 (the invasion […]
Monday Morning Radio Inteview
October 31, 2022 by · Leave a Comment
Want to know what super-creators do well, how to make creativity more enjoyable, and why the phrase “be creative” makes people less creative? If so, check out this interview I did with Dean Rotbart for Monday Morning Radio. It’s available on most podcast streaming platforms if you search “Monday Morning Radio” and look for the […]
