by Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted “Meme me, Nana!” My six-year-old grandson struck a pose with his Papaw. “Take a picture and meme me.” I’m not sure which is more fun, my grandson or the fact he actually knew what a meme was. I snapped his picture as he held a stick…

@DiAnnMills Dissecting character motivation ushers in the potential of improving your novel to bestselling status. Writers sift through a character’s behavior to find the inner quality that drives the character into action. This core, the deep physiological problem plaguing our character, must be resolved before the character can change and…

@LisaCarter27 I’ve always been in love with words. Before I learned to read, I can remember rolling words around on my tongue, savoring the flavor of the sounds. Words are powerful. Words can be used for good or evil. As a writer, teacher and speaker, I search to capture just…

By Brad Bloom @faithfitnessmag I still remember when I worked as an associate producer for an educational media company and we held an audition at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. The opportunity: Be an actor in two half-hour videos shot in two different countries. A fourteen-day all-expense paid trip to…

@DiAnnMills Symbolism is a tangible items that means something psychologically to the character—and translates to the reader the same emotional response. James Scott Bell states, “From the start, we have a connection . . . .” The character(s) and the reader form an attachment to an object that no longer…

@ADGansky Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages. –Kurt Vonnegut Aside from keeping…