A little dryness of mouth, a little dampness of face, a little quiver in the abdominal region – these are the symptoms of sheer, unadulterated panic. These are the symptoms of a good writer.

By letting the reader imagine all the filler details, the stuff that’s not actually important to the plot, readers create for themselves a scene that is both vivid and completely believable.

For better or worse, art (like life) is subjective. Not one of us looks at a story, a painting, a movie, or a concert in the same way.

Writing for an audience, instead of merely to an audience means you’re molding your artistic vision to please the whims of the public.

Nine traits of a good beginning.

Is angst a necessary ingredient for creativity?

Characters need to do something to prove themselves worth defining.

Genres too often lead to cliched storylines, sub-par writing, and, in the long run, a less discerning and demanding reading public.

Particularly during this modern trend of beginning stories in medias res (in the middle of things), a deep and full-bodied backstory is every whit as important as the story itself.