For all of the nannies, who devote their time and their hearts to caring for children who aren’t their own. ______ “They” say I have to draw a line through my heart. I can love you, but only so much. Only the appropriate amount. Because you are not mine. What “they” (the ambiguous, omnipresent, “they”)… Read More
Category: Character
Plumbing the Depths of Your Own Life
In a recent chapter of Lawrence Block’s Telling Lies for Fun and Profit he talked about a phenomenon he calls “burning the raft at both ends.” By which he means, consuming one’s own life experiences in the service of one’s writing. According to Block, you can use up your life. You can run out of… Read More
Developing Secondary Characters
The Agile Writers approach to writing a novel focuses clearly around the hero figure and their story. But, the more you step into the world of your hero, the more you recognize the need for fully developed secondary characters. The hero can only have as much depth as his or her world, after all. So,… Read More
