"Almost every scene, I re-think as I'm about to start drawing it, and at least half of the time I'm changing dialogue or whatever, or adding scenes or different things." Chester Brown Behind the Scenes You’ve naile... [More]

Swing Into Action I'm lazy. I haven't always been lazy, but I am now. Engulfed in responsibilities, swallowed by stress, smothered by self-doubt, I allowed laziness to park herself on my front doorstep. Then, she darted insid... [More]

“Try to open up your mind a little, and move away from rigid opinions of what people should do and be - unless you have been there. –Ann Rule During the third week in April of this year, I flew out west to a town called Gold Beach,(O... [More]

Hiking. It's MY Action/Adventure! Never confuse movement with action." --Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961) Readers love action. Scenes rich with physical struggles, verbal confrontations, and near death escapes. T... [More]

Hiking, It's MY action / adventure. We’ve all heard how details bring home our writing. When you’re inserting detail, don’t forget about your story’s setting. "Detail makes the difference between b... [More]

Hi there. I'm Robin, and I'll be your guest editor for this week's Comedy Newsletter "Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious." -- Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004) For me, writing funny often emerges out o... [More]

“You cannot change anything in your life with intention alone, which can become a watered-down, occasional hope that you'll get to tomorrow. Intention without action is useless.” -- CAROLINE MYSS With the New Year alrea... [More]

Hey There: I'm Robin, and I'll be your guest editor for this week's Mystery Newsletter. Life is a Mystery ... Unfold it…” – unknown author Unfolding your mystery is easier than you think. ... [More]

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." Walt Disney How Did I Get Here? Plot, a.k.a. storyline, is the plan... [More]

First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him! - Ray Bradbury When we follow the hero, we follow the plot. As writers, we hope our plot is interesting, engaging, and, well let’s be honest –the best plot eve... [More]

"Books aren't written, they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it... " -- Michael Crichton 1942 - 2008 Seven rewrit... [More]

HI, I'm Robin and I'll be your guest editor for this week's Comedy Newsletter With Halloween days away, I thought I’d hit on the mixing and blending of genres, scary/horror plus comedy. For me, funny/scary is ... [More]

Hi. I'm Robin, and I'll be your guest editor for this week's addition of the For Authors Newsletter . "Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeli... [More]

"Writing, like life itself, is a voyage of discovery. The adventure is a metaphysical one; it is a way of approaching life indirectly, of acquiring a total rather than a partial view of the universe. The writer lives be... [More]

Writing from your heart. You hear it all the time: Write what you know. Lots of experts agree, writing what you know, your job, your family life, your personal experiences, gives a realistic feel…a believable feel to your work. R... [More]

No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide. Chuck Palahniuk Battling Distractions I’m having a problem; it’s malicious distraction, in the form of spider solitaire – th... [More]

”Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.” —Neil Armstrong An important element in the Mystery Genre is “believability”. For those who read mysteries, it’s t... [More]

When you are describing a shape, or sound, or tint; Don't state the matter plainly, But put it in a hint; And learn to look at all things With a sort of mental squint -- Lewis Carroll On Foreshadowing On Foreshadowing ... [More]

There is no dark side of the moon, really. As a matter of fact, it's all dark. The only thing that makes it look light is the sun. Gerry Driscoll, Pink Floyd, "Eclipse", The Dark Side of the Moon Symbolize This ... [More]

”All you can eat tuna bar, here we come!” Give Me Funny For me, laughter eases pain, builds bridges, and softens hurt feelings. When given the choice between blood and gore of horror/scary, the death and pain of trag... [More]

I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures. - Earl Warren HAVE A BALL With the Olympics around the corner, I thought I’d touch... [More]

Hi there! I'm Robin, and I'll be your guest editor for the Horror/Scary Newsletter this week. So, I’m not trying to discount advice from other authors who advocate the “make a plan” when it comes to writing ho... [More]

In the beginning… "Beginnings are always messy." -- John Galsworthy The beauty about being an author is the complete and utter control we have when creating our stories. Even when stories seem to “write thems... [More]

Hiking. It's MY Action/Adventure! The Driving Forces of Action "All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire." Aristotle I so... [More]

Hiking. It's MY Action/Adventure! Hey everyone! Robin here, your newest editor for Action/Adventure . In last week's newsletter, we talked about slowing down our scenes by using frame-by-frame detail to create adren... [More]