Picture if you will. I’m in college, taking a writing workshop course. I’m used to writing stories that belong in genres – fantasy, horror, science fiction. Those were my bread and butter. But our instructor has a rule: no genre fiction. She’s looking for stories that focus on characters and how plot is driven by…
Month: May 2026
Romantic Subplots & You
You want a romance. But … you don’t want to write a romance story. You just want to add a romantic element to your story. Most stories have them. Science fiction, fantasy, westerns … even mystery and horror aren’t immune to the pull. When you have two people with a certain kind of chemistry, you have the makings for a…
Write What You Know
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Write what you know. I’ve always hated that advice. If you ask me to cite the worst advice to give a writer, it’s that. No hesitation. That is the worst advice I’ll ever hear someone give a writer. I say that because the first time I remember someone…
What Is Genre?
No, really. What is “Genre”? The answer is … //shrug// … ? Hear me out. Genre is one of those aspects of writing that is both easy and hard to define because, with Genre, maybe more than any other writing concept, context matters. We’ll start simple and get a dictionary definition. I went with the Cambridge…