Writing AdviceTag

Character Development Tips from Dungeons & Dragons

Full disclosure: I don't play Dungeons & Dragons, much as I'd like to. However, I've read a few D&D-based novels and enjoy watching others play the game, so I was pleased to stumble upon a fun ...

Toilets and the Research Iceberg : Bringing History to Life

The best and worst part of writing historical fiction is research. The best and worst part of research is that chasing every bright and shiny object – oops, I mean fact – can be so addictive that ...

My Top Ten Tips for Making a Living as a Writer

Writing is a lousy way to make a living, but a great way to make a life, I said when I started this residency. I’ve been doing both for thirty years. So here are 10 points that I’ve learned about ...

Don't Write What You Know, Know What You Feel

‘Write what you know,’ must be one of the most common and boring bits of writing advice. I’d say, ‘Don’t worry about what you know – just know what you feel.’You can research most things ...

The Nature of Truth in Art

For my final post as writer-in-residence, I’d like to devote a bit of space to one of the subjects I love to chew on: the nature of truth in art. (As a friend of mine recently noted: ‘You always go ...

Should Memoir be Considered Non-Fiction?

One of the things that makes this question so interesting is that the answer isn’t as obvious or cut-and-dried as it first appears. It varies from country to country, for one thing, changes from culture ...

Memoir is Not the Story of Your Life

The funny thing about memoir is that it is not the story of your life.It is true that memoir deals with and includes stories from the author’s life, but therein lies the distinction. For while autobiography ...

Why Bother Writing?

A few nights ago, I woke up to the sound of a wolf howling into the bowl of the sky. We all know the sound, I’d heard versions of it my whole life, but I’d never actually heard one in the flesh like ...

The lost art of rereading

There was a trail I used to walk when I was broken, decades ago, after I'd scooped my heart from my chest and passed it to a man, who'd winced, shrugged, and said, ummmm, no thanks.We’ve all been there.It ...

A sentence & a breath

You want to write a book. Terrific! You've thought about this for years. In fact, whenever you tell your stories, people always say, you should write a book. And they’re right! You should. There’s ...