Writer Unboxed

Do you research your novels to the point of obsession or do you not research at all?  Historical novelists are research junkies. Coming-of-age novelists mostly rely on memory. The majority of fiction writers fall somewhere in between: They study just enough so that their settings are accurate and their characters’ occupations feel real. The rest [...]

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Today’s guest is psychologist Vince McLeod, who runs a website called The Story Generator. Vince is here today to talk with us about the psychology of our characters–and more than that, how we might use psychological testing to help inform our fiction. Enjoy! How to Use Psychometric Testing to Create Believable Characters In order to [...]

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What inspires you as a writer? If you write, and especially if you’re an author who visits book groups, you’ve likely been asked that question more than once. I think the question has more than one level, as does the answer. Like me, you may not even recognize all of your inspirations until after you’ve finished a [...]

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Therese here, elbowing in for a quick sec to say woohoo, our first week of donations in the Writers for The Red Cross auction has earned $450! Don’t miss this week’s packages, including “The Kitchen Daughter” Book Club in a Box donated by Jael McHenry; a signed copy of Donald Maass’s not-yet-released book The Breakout [...]

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Do you love fiction with fantasy elements, but despair of writing a novel which will capture an editor or agent’s attention? Have you grown weary of the traditional fare – what Smart Bitch Sarah Wendell refers to as “vamptired”? If you’ve thought of turning to other cultures for literary inspiration, but been nervous about navigating cross-cultural lines, [...]

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Therese here–and Happy Halloween to everyone. Today’s guests are Janice Gable Bashman and Jonathan Maberry, authors of WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE: Vampire Hunters and Other Kick-Ass Enemies of Evil, which seemed apropos today. From their bios: Jonathan Maberry is a NY Times bestseller, multiple Bram Stoker Award-winner and a writer for Marvel Comics. He has [...]

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Brunonia Barry on Painting in the Blanks

It isn’t the blank page that I find terrifying. It’s the idea of beginning. I can easily put words on a page, that’s not the problem. I often begin a new novel by doing something I’ve heard described as “clearing your throat.” I usually write fifty to a hundred pages that I will never use, but within those pages I often discover the entire back story of each character and the journey those characters will take together.

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Every book requires research. Even if it’s set in your hometown and your protagonist is a whole lot like you, there will be some moment where you’re not sure of a fact – was the corner store there in 1994? Is it 15 miles to Waverly or 16? – and you will, in some way, [...]

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I know Kathleen and Therese meant well when they asked me to offer my best writing advice, but I gotta tell you, the idea that I could presume to do so after being here less than three months? With the pedigree of you folks? Oy. The very concept made me break out in hives. Fortunately, [...]

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Please welcome guest contributor Jeanne Kisacky to WU. Scholar and architectural historian, Jeanne was a finalist in our search for our unpubbed contributor, and we thought her essay was fantastic. Jeanne tells us ”I’m a recovering architect (anyone interested in joining the charter chapter of Architects Anonymous, please contact me); and an escaped editor. For [...]

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Two weekends ago, I participated in the delightful Tucson Festival of Books. While on a panel with Karen Joy Fowler, Margaret Erhart and Daniel Stolar, we fell into a discussion of the importance of setting and sense of place. We all expressed surprise and frustration at the lack of setting details that sometimes show up [...]

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I promised you a post on building Facebook ads, and this is it. I know, I know, you can barely contain your excitement! So why Facebook ads? Facebook ads are something the marketing team at Shaye Areheart Books recommended I try, since I wanted to contribute to my book’s campaign. They were easy to set [...]

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