Elmore Leonard is a prolific writer who has entertained us with more than forty novels, including , , , , and many more. Hollywood is an Elmore Leonard fan, and many of his books have been made into movies. Leonard began writing while still working in advertising. He published a short story in Argosy magazine…
Category Archives: Fiction Writing
Five Fiction Mistakes that Spell Rejection
Ask most fiction editors how to avoid rejection, and you’ll hear the same thing: Read the guidelines. Review the publication. Don’t send a science fiction story to a literary magazine, and vice versa. Don’t send a 10,000-word manuscript to a magazine that never publishes anything longer than 5,000 words. Spell check. Proofread. Check your grammar….
Weaving Travel into Your Fiction Writing
I’ve always loved to travel and I’ve always loved to write. And together, the two seem to be a simple recipe for almost-guaranteed publishing success. But, as with most things in life, it’s not that easy! Imagine you have an exotic and unique yarn– you’re so excited about it and you know that whatever you…
Design Characters using Mind Maps
How do you design your characters? Some sources recommend filling in a questionnaire or CV. You need to answer questions like “what is her favourite film?”, or “what does he drink?” etc. This doesn’t work for me, because by the time I know the answers to those kind of questions I have written my novel. I design…
Philosophy 101 for Novelists
Whether writing a realistic or fantasy novel, the novelist is creating a fictional world where he or she is playing God, and that requires creating a worldview or philosophy and basic rules to govern that fictional world. Writers must know what their philosophy is and what worldview they will sell to their readers in order…
Keeping Track of Characters When Writing Fiction
Authors who write fiction have the advantage that they can make everything up, but the disadvantage is they have no sources to go back and check. Creating fictional characters requires great care to make sure no inconsistencies are introduced. Keeping records for your characters helps to make them realistic and effective and saves headaches later….
Can You Pick Your Killer Out of a Lineup?
Writing mysteries can be fun and challenging, but it can also prove to be frustrating – unless you decide to have some fun with it. I’ll be honest – in most of my writing I have been a plotster, planning out every clue and detail and knowing full well who my killer is well before…
Plot or Characters—Which Matters More?
Authors often deride plot-driven books in favor of focusing on character development. However, focusing on characters over plot can leave a reader asking, “What’s the point?” The characters and the plot are actually integral pieces of one another. A complaint many reviewers have is that the novels they review are lacking in story or plot,…
Backstories Make Fiction Rich
In writing fiction, creating a realistic world depends on the details. Characters are more developed when they have interesting pasts, pasts that shed light upon who they are in the present and which affect their actions and decisions for the future. By creating a backstory for characters and/or for a fictional world, the author pulls…
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