About Writing

Some people have asked me about the writing process. When I first contemplated the idea of writing a book, I sat down in front of a blank MS Word document and proceeded to write garbage. I soon realized that I had no idea what I was doing and that I needed serious help.

Fortunately, writing is a bit like playing a musical instrument – there are theories and techniques that can be learned and practiced to develop the skill of telling a good story. I needed to pause the writing and learn about these theories and techniques.

For those willing to invest the time in learning, there is plenty of good material available on the subject of how to write fiction.

Following are some books that I found helpful:

• Writing Fiction for Dummies, by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy
• Techniques of the Selling Writer, by Dwight Swain
• Stein on Writing, by Sol Stein
• Plot and Structure, by James Scott Bell
• Conflict and Suspense, by James Scott Bell
• On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King
• The Emotional Craft of Fiction, by Donald Maass
• Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, by Donald Maass
• Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King
• Understanding Show, Don’t Tell (And Really Getting It), by Janice Hardy
• Telling Lies for Fun and Profit, by Lawrence Block

In addition to the books listed above, I recommend the following lecture packets by Margie Lawson:

• Empowering Characters’ Emotions
• Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues
• Deep Editing, Rhetorical Devices and More