It was recently brought to my attention that, as a blogger, I’m pretty much a failure. At least, I’m a failure in that I didn’t make it clear, maybe, about who I am, what I’m doing, or even why. Also, I failed to explain what a ‘ProAm’ is, or why you all should even care. And that as a blogger, I kinda sorta sound a little… to put it delicately… like a gigantic egotist. All of which is a little hurtful. And all of which is NOT wrong. Not even a little. So. I’ve been doing th

What sounds like just another chemistry joke (and we all know how hilarious THEY are) is actually the clearest distillation (see what I did there? Yeah, the whole post is like that, sorry) of how I see myself as a writer. I’ll explain. Recently for my Creative Writing class I had to write a short story for the class to critique. We were given several weeks to do this, but I actually had an outline by the time class was done, and when I went home that night, I wrote in one lon

I’m convinced that no one likes a perfect hero. No one likes a shining beacon of trust, honesty, hope, light, righteousness, and perfection. It’s boring. No one likes a hero who doesn’t have to learn and grow. No one likes a hero who never failed. Now, the idea behind the hero is that someone has to win. In the end, the hero is triumphant. No question about it. But keep in mind, the hero isn’t always the good guy or good girl. The hero and the good or bad guy aren’t always th

I go to my coffee shop (no, it’s not StarSchmucks) for a dirty chai on ice. I walk in, I admire the place, I listen to the music I’ve likely never heard before. I leave a nice tip, because they do amazing dirty chai there (it’s black chai tea and a shot of espresso, btw. Good for what ails you, provided you don’t have a heart condition) and I leave. Occasionally, as it is a coffee shop, I see people pecking away on their laptops. This is fine. Sometimes it can be quite the mo

Not yours. That’s a different tip. No, this time it’s about your characters. So many writers, either in books, television, or movies, are guilty of not taking the time to make sure their characters have their own voices. Go listen to any random dozen conversations. See how those people each use different inflections, words, and sentence structure? THAT’S voice. It’s not just tone. It’s FLAVOR. Do this exercise to see how you fare: take a dozen pages you’ve written that contai