Author, Speaker
Song-and-Dance Man
Dear Writer Guy, I always get stuck in the middle of my books. I write like twenty chapters and then I get writer’s block. Do you have any advice? Sincerely, Zakariya R. Dear Zakariya, A sagging middle sometimes results from not having a challenging enough goal for your hero to achieve, or not throwing enough conflict into his/her …
Rejection sucks. No bones about it. And it sucks for every writer, whether you’re pre-published or world-famous. The prolific Isaac Asimov once said, “Rejection slips, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil — but there is no way around them.” It’s easy to lose heart in the …
I didn’t know what to expect. Having flown halfway around the world to visit the American International School of Abuja in Nigeria, I was open for adventure. But when the school invited me to visit their “sister school,” a local primary school they were mentoring, I wasn’t sure how those kids would react. After all, …
Dear Writer Guy, Why is publishing so disorganized, compared to other industries? Sincerely, Anonymous Writer (from SCBWI North-Central CA) Dear A.W., I agree — from the outside, publishing looks much more disorganized than, say, the office supplies or plumbing industry. Unlike plumbers, editors seem to take forever to reply to your query (assuming they …
Let’s start by thinking about dialogue. You’ve done your homework, you’ve outlined. You have a pretty solid idea of where you’re going with it. But suddenly you come to a necessary scene that stumps you. Though you may know what it’s supposed to accomplish in terms of an A-to-B goal, you cannot quite visualize howyou’re …
Tween fiction by Holly Black What happens when you take an iconic Disney villain (in this case, Maleficent) and put her in the hands of Holly Black, doyenne of YA fantasy? A delightful tween story that humanizes the villain and puts a new spin on the world of Sleeping Beauty. In this telling, Princess (now …
Middle-grade fiction by Kwame Mbalia Rick Riordan Presents delivers another engaging, kid-friendly, mythological tale in Kwame Mbalia’s Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky. When the story opens, Tristan Strong isn’t having the most ideal seventh-grade year. His best buddy, Eddie, died in a school bus crash, and Tristan blames himself for not being …
Dear Writer Guy, I’ve heard that it is important to continue reading even though you are constantly short on writing time. How do you balance the two? Do you read in the genre you write in? Do you also read adult stuff? Just curious, Alice in Missouri Dear Alice, As the novelist John Irving said, “I …
BEGINNINGS: Kicking It Off—That Super-Critical Opening Moment Where and how to start one’s yarn, including choosing the just right opening words for a novel, play or short story, selecting that optimum moment for the beginning of a screenplay or teleplay, and the crucially important first meeting between your fictional creation and your audience is — …
Middle-grade fiction by Sarah Jean Hurwitz The sole heir of the infamous Dark Lord Elithor Morcerous is a bit on the small side. Twelve-year-old Clementine has been groomed since birth to be the best (worst?) Evil Overlord she can be, terrorizing townfolk and committing Dastardly Deeds. But Clementine seems to be cut of a different …
