Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing
It’s a pretty popular thing for accomplished writers to compile lists of rules* for writing fiction. This week, Steve and I tackle 10 of these rules as suggested by Elmore Leonard. Elmore Leonard cut his teeth writing westerns, but quickly moved on to crime novels. He...
First Lines
This week, Steve and I look at the importance of first lines in fiction. The information is largely taken and adapted from my book, Firsts in Fiction: First Lines. The first line of your novel is especially important for a few reasons. Firstly, you want to make sure...
Archetypes Without Stereotypes
This week Steve and I look at archetypes, how they can inform our story, and how to use them effectively without falling into stereotypical character and plot structures. To begin, we need to understand what an archetype is. Long story short, we can think of...
A Body of Information
On this week’s Firsts in Fiction, Steve and I discuss the physicality, the biology, of our characters, and how that adds to their depth and history. Imagining your character’s physicality means thinking about more than their physical appearance alone. Yes, the color...
Pinpointing Your Characters’ Motivation
This week on Firsts in Fiction, Steve and I delve deep into our fanboyisms as we explore the intricacies of character motivation. If you listened last week, you got some good tips on how to create characters, but your journey isn’t complete. In order to make sure your...
Characters from the Ground Up
In our third episode of Firsts in Fiction, Steve and I talk about how to construct characters from the ground up. Here’s a few ideas to help you pull your characters from the ether and rivet them together into unforgettable friends (or enemies). Special thanks to...