“Let’s take a walk, shall we?” With a smile, Geoffrey turned toward the kennels. Mommy, Daddy, and Kid, the wide-eyed issue of their frenzied loins, obediently traipsed after him. Geoffrey had seen some permutation of this story a hundred times. In an unrelenting campaign, Kid pitches fits for puppy until Mommy, whose Xanax and coffee […]

Telling a story is not the same as showing it. Telling, or exposition, is a mere recitation of the facts. Exposition is telling. To illustrate the difference between telling and showing, think of a trade show. You’ve got all the booths lined up and everybody is hawking something. Why do you walk by some tables […]

Writing rules. Rules, rules, rules, and more rules. Lord, help me. I have to tell you. Me and the NYTimes do not get along. In fact, me and most mainstream media do not get along. But as a writer in various capacities (for business, about business, children, memoir, and fiction) it is imperative I read widely […]

Can people not see the futility of falling in love? Yet, against all advice, they do it over and over, time and again. Had Brockett Runyon not read the mirror-image memoirs by lovers Graychild and Williams? Had he not poured over the empirical data from the pivotal study by the team at MIT throwing Masters […]

Women are mysterious creatures. Even Catherine knew that. She was the biggest mystery of all. Even to herself. “Your energy. It has…changed.” Catherine tightened her fingers in Rogers’. His fingers remained mute; eyes looked to the same sky she searched above the cliff upon which they sat. “I don’t know what you mean. Silly girl.” He forced […]

Everything was sweetness and light at the reception. Until the bang. Nothing ruins a day better than a death at a wedding. Bullet through the heart, the groom fell at my feet. I was friends with the bride’s side of the family so had only just met him in the receiving line two hours ago. […]

Country woman in her late 70s.    My life sparked when my mama laid herself down with a bunch of horny toads in some city by a bay. She never rightly said but I think it was in Florida since according to my mama she ain’t never been west of the big river called the   […]

Bill sat in the sound booth in the near-dark at the back of the crowded room, a fan keeping him cool. He never watched the stage, for to watch it meant he couldn’t manage the sound well. So he watched the room while his fingers diddled the dials. The club was busy for this Tuesday […]

All storytellers bump up against the same challenges: What world will their characters inhabit? Will the world be large or will the story focus on a narrow segment of it? If a narrow world, will there be a broad sampling of characters? What are the rules of engagement in this world? What outside forces will […]

I’ve been asked how it is I plot my novels. The short answer is: I don’t, not really, kinda sorta somewhat not. The correct answer is: I have a general idea of story, but when my characters surprise me, my stories always benefit. In other words, I write like John le Carré. For instance, my […]