Writer’s block. Uh… wait. I.. I KNOW I had something for this. That’s a writer’s joke. Ha. WARNING- This post is HIGHLY subjective. My opinions are my own, yours are yours. But here’s my two cents. Writer’s block is an inability to think of the first word. And the second. And the third. And so on. It’s not a block of creativity. If you’re a writer, you’re creative. You don’t STOP being creative. You stop writing. You freeze at the keyboard. You can’t organize your thoughts. Y

This one is a personal affectation rather than an actual tip because it’s highly subjective. But hey, my blog, my rules. Today’s tip is this: Always open on an action beat. All the best stuff I’ve written opens in the middle of some kind of action beat. I opened a short story in the middle of a bank robbery. One short story opened in the middle of a spaceship repossession. One short story I wrote recently opened with an accountant getting attacked by a vampire in Central Park

Character. It’s all about the characters. Are they tall? Short? What color is their hair? Do they limp? Have scars? Are they orphans? Are they secretly gay? Are they openly gay? Are they straight but keep getting hit on by their own sex? Do they have a lot of payments left on their cars? Their houses? Do they like vanilla or chocolate more? What do they do int he bathroom? Do they read? Or stare at the wall? Do the male characters sit down to pee? Do the female ones stand up?