ALT: a man in a white shirt and suspenders is holding a pair of scissors in front of a tree .

The herring fish of Eugene Field’s poem “Winken, Blinken and Nod” was probably a special glittering creature, because the fishermen went after them with nets of silver and gold. Writers, on the other ...

We’re always told (and it’s good advice) to “write the story that is in you.” But since we’re also concerned with selling that story to others, readers’ expectations are something to keep in mind. The...

The herring fish of Eugene Field’s poem “Winken, Blinken and Nod” was probably a special glittering creature, because the fishermen went after them with nets of silver and gold. Writers, on the other ...

Silence. Try to picture it: a novel with no dialogue. That would seem cold and distant indeed. Dialogue is showing, not telling what the characters think. It gives us their own tricks of speech, carri...

If you’re old enough, you’ll remember from your elementary school days (which used to be called grammar school, remember?) that the participle is a verb form used as an adjective. The past passive par...

Florida WritersCon 2026 #FloridaWriters The Florida WritersCon 2026 hosted by the Florida Writers Association, taking place from October 23–25, 2026, at the Hilton Orlando/Altamonte Springs. Florida WritersCon 2026 (In-Person) Dates: October 23–25, 2026 Location: Hilton Orlando/Altamonte Springs, FL Highlights: Keynote by poet and storyteller Shawn Welcome, hands-on workshops, mixers, and book marketing panels. Cost: Regular member registration is $679 (until Sept 30); non-member registration is $799.

Shamrock McShane is one of those rare figures who moves easily between worlds: the classroom, the stage, the page, and collaborative creative projects that blend them all. Born Timothy John McShane in...

YouTube video by Southern Dragon Publishing

The way your characters talk — in dialogue scenes as well as in first-person narration — can not only help a reader distinguish one from the other. It can actually serve to establish who each of them ...

If you’re old enough, you’ll remember from your elementary school days (which used to be called grammar school, remember?) that the participle is a verb form used as an adjective. The past passive par...

A blogging colleague recently looked at some ways in which the setting of a novel could become so dynamic as to be a real character. I would like to expand upon that idea, because just as you want eve...

We’re always told (and it’s good advice) to “write the story that is in you.” But since we’re also concerned with selling that story to others, readers’ expectations are something to keep in mind. The...

We all want to write elegantly. That calls for tightening lines. One way to rid excess verbiage is to cut all unnecessary prepositions and prepositional phrases. I say unnecessary because, as writers,...

Silence. Try to picture it: a novel with no dialogue. That would seem cold and distant indeed. Dialogue is showing, not telling what the characters think. It gives us their own tricks of speech, carri...

Silence. Try to picture it: a novel with no dialogue. That would seem cold and distant indeed. Dialogue is showing, not telling what the characters think. It gives us their own tricks of speech, carri...