By Aaron Gansky @ADGansky Admit it, you’ve seen the plot mountain to the left countless times. This is how you learned the parts of plot, yes? But, if I may be so bold, I’m not a fan of this diagram. Sure, all the parts are present, and the names are…

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson By and large writers are an observant lot. Things others might brush over or miss entirely stay with us, sparking ideas that blossom and grow. An overheard conversation can lead us to the plot of entire book. But like any skill that comes naturally, there's still room…

By James Hannibal @jamesrhannibal The Search Engine Swamp. The Wikipedia Wastelands. The Data Doldrums. Look out! It’s the Research Bog. Stay on the path.  But wait. What should you do if you lose the path and get lost in the muck? [tweet_box design="default" float="none" inject="#Writing #research"]Research: Escaping the Research Bog…

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Finding the perfect literary agent can be a daunting task. With so many writers looking for representation and so many agents looking for the next bestselling novel, where does a writer begin? But the task isn’t impossible. With a few guidelines, a writer can navigate onto…

By Penny Reeve There is a character in my young adult novel Out of the Cages, called Purna. For the majority of the novel she does not speak. Despite being a young woman, she behaves like a child. She rocks and cowers and watches the world with wide frightened eyes.…

By James Hannibal @jamesrhannibal The Search Engine Swamp. The Wikipedia Wastelands. The Data Doldrums. At the center of the author’s pirate map to story treasures, we find a dense bog where the blotted scrawls of the cartographer’s quill read, “Here be time-eating monsters!” It’s the Research Bog. Stay on the…