By Aaron Gansky @ADGansky You hear writers often mention the “fictive dream.” John Gardner called it a “vivid and continuous dream.” It’s a term used to describe a simple principle: no one wants to read a book. There, I said it. Man, it feels good to get that off my…

By Aaron Gansky @ADGansky For the most part, a good first chapter does the same thing as a good first page to a deeper extent, there are a few more considerations when writing your opening chapter. While most of the answers to these considerations depend largely upon the genre and…

By Aaron Gansky @ADGansky While there are a variety of ways to organize the events in your story, some work better than others. I’ll give you a quick sampling of options that you have as well as a few benefits and potential drawbacks of each. For each example, let’s assume…

By Aaron Gansky @ADGansky If you’ve followed my blog much, you’ll know how much importance I put on the first line. Just as important, and just as tricky, is the final line. If I could make one observation from my years as a literary editor, I’d say that the best…

By Aaron Gansky @ADGansky Recently, I hit a bit of a writer’s block. This is not surprising for anyone who writes, but for whatever reason, I was shocked. I’d just finished up my young adult fantasy novel which, for the most part, told itself. But beginning a new project with…

By Aaron Gansky @ADGansky I don’t watch a lot of television, but one show I enjoyed was Monk. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it was an old detective show based around an OCD ex-cop with an incredible power of perception. A dead body would show up, the San Francisco police…