Writer Unboxed

Verla Kay is the award-winning author of eight historical children’s books, with three more in the works. Verla’s work is unique, as she’s pioneered a phrase called “cryptic rhyme” and set herself apart from others who write in rhyme. Verla’s also founder of a huge resource for children’s writers, called the Children’s Writing & Illustrating […]

So I’m getting the galleys of Time of My Life tomorrow. Yay! For those of you who don’t know, a galley – or an ARC (advanced review copy) – is essentially an uncorrected paperback version of your book. Which means that there will still be some typos and whatnot, but that mostly, […]

Last week, we spoke to YA author Caroline Says, and the hot YA series UPPER CLASS that are giving the Gossip Girls a run for the money.  Says, in partnership with fellow writers Hobson Brown and Taylor Materne, have crafted a series of character-driven novels set in an elite New England boarding school.  These books are impressive, and even […]

Undeniably, the market for YA fiction has exploded in the last few years.  Hollywood is gobbling up hot books for film and television projects, and the range of titles for the ‘tween/teen market has never been more diverse. 
So we were all kinds of pleased to be able to interview Caroline Says, who, along with co-authors Hobson Brown […]

You’re going to have to help me out on this one, folks.  I haven’t made up my mind yet.
Those of you who read this on a regular basis will not be surprised to hear that I originally went to college for film.  Before they axed the film program at my state school, I took several […]

If you missed part 1 of my interview with author Billy Mernit, click HERE, then come back. Billy, an instructor with the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and a story analyst for Universal Pictures, applied the tried-and-true rom-com formula to his debut novel, Imagine Me and You, with hilarious results. In part 2, we discuss […]

A while back, Teri asked if I would revisit my article on “Story as River” for Writer Unboxed. This is it as it will now appear in my forthcoming book, “Jump-start Your Novel with Kitty-cats in Action,” which is based on articles and edits from my blog, Flogging the Quill.
A tale of two stories:
Enticed by […]

CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST!
Through the generosity of Ben Bella Books, three lucky readers of Writer Unboxed can win a copy of Demigods and Monsters, the anthology mentioned at the end of my post. Just answer this simple question: What was the name of the Gorgon killed by Perseus? The first three entries with the correct […]

Debut author Billy Mernit knows a thing or two about romantic comedy: he teaches the rom-com template to aspiring screenwriters at UCLA. It’s no wonder he applied what he knows best when writing his novel, Imagine Me and You, released this past Tuesday. In Imagine, Mernit explores what happens to a man when he […]

Be the hero of your own story.
It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a movie hew so closely and so explicitly to theme. Yet this little film about a girl living on a South Pacific island, and who has amazing adventures, provides writers a wonderful lesson in how theme informs story. For […]

If you missed parts 1 and 2 of my conversation with Blake Snyder, the brilliant storytelling/screenwriting analyst and author of Save the Cat and Save the Cat Goes to the Movies, do yourself a favor and catch up: click HERE and then HERE. In this final segment of our discussion, we talk about the storyteller’s […]

Raymond Obstfeld is The Man when it comes to fiction writing.  A well-respected novelist with 28 titles in just about every genre imaginable to his credit, many screenplays and adaptations, works of non-fiction, and magazine articles as a contributing editor for Writer’s Digest, he also finds time to teach creative writing at Orange Coast College.
But […]