Memoirs are deceptive. It seems like such an easy thing to tell people about your life. Just start at the beginning, right? No, don’t. Haven't you ever been trapped in That Conversation before? The one with the coworker or in-law or uncle? Or coworker uncle-in-law?...
I had a conversation recently with an author about realism and genre. Their book was a police procedural, so there was a murder and detectives and even a search warrant, but it also took place on another planet. The author wanted to know why they should care about...
Do you want people in the criminal justice system to read your book or throw it across the room with great force?[1] Maybe your book has criminal justice stuff in it and you know that the stuff in it is fake but you keep it that way because you think the “story”...
I am taking a risk by saying this: Science, medicine, and education are essential elements of a civilized society and the free exchange of ideas is an essential element of democracy. Trump is preventing government scientists from sharing information with the public....
Part of my story takes place at a campground in Mt. Rainier. I've never been to Mt. Rainier National Park or indeed know anything about the park at all. So of course I began by doing research. Getting things wrong distracts the reader. And a distracted reader is a...
Hi, everyone. It's November! And I'm participating in NaNoWriMo---National Novel Writing Month. Every November, people strive to write a novel of at least 50,000 words. The object of the game is to just write. I know several other people who are participating in this...
A common task for editors is to make sure that the manuscript in front of them conforms to the rules of English spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation. For instance, when I encounter the confusion of you and I and you and me, I fix it. (You and I are going to the...
Recently, a colleague of mine stumbled upon a Facebook page on which the owners had uploaded an entire book. The whole thing. The book was a parody of another book, which mattered to the owners of the Facebook page, but is irrelevant for purposes of uploading an...