Trigger warning: Therapy, depression, loss I have zero focus most of the time. The best way to get me to do something is to pay me or be my friend. Once I get started I will finish something. It may take me a while, but I will finish it. This week I have an assignment ...

Books have always gotten me through tough times. I would sit on my bed and travel to magical lands when I wasn’t able to go anywhere. I loved to get to know all of the different characters. I think that’s what sparked my love of writing because I never had to leave my characters once ...

My characters always start as one-dimensional. I usually see a scene from the book in my head with very little background, and then I ask myself why. To illustrate this, I’ll use my book, Unwrap My Heart, as an example. Pro tip: this method is amazing for co-authors, and I in no way answered these ...

The plight of the blinking cursor is something that plagues me often. It usually means that every word I write seems like it was written by someone who is writing their very first sentence. My solution to this problem usually is to read some of my favorite authors. I started this because one of my ...

My creative writing teachers in college always used to say there was no such thing as writer’s block. They said as long as you sat down to write something would end up on the page eventually. I usually don’t have this issue because I have a cast of characters who will comment on anything from ...

Read: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 Gertie 30 While Gertie remained outside the restaurant. She heard a voice hollering at her. “Gertie, we have a long shift ahead again today.” Gertie took a big sigh and came back inside. Max, the cook, had called her back inside. He did not want her to ...

Welcome to the fifth installment of the Start Writing Fiction series. In previous articles, we have looked at what fiction is and how we can get started. We learned how to develop a habit of writing. We now know the never-ending work of editing and revisions. And last, but not least, how we can build ...

“Leaves crackling and sticks breaking awakens little Kassandra. Her small eyes flutter open to a canopy of bony branches reaching out for each other. Between the long finger branches, the moon and stars fight the dark clouds from consuming their light. Beneath her small body. The coldness of the moist dirt floor seeps through her ...