Behind the Book: Unlikely Hero
Unlikely Hero started with a single image, a nuclear bomb near Los Angeles, and became a two-character story about a criminal, a cop, and one impossible choice. Here is how it was built.
Tag: Writing Craft
The nuts and bolts of good writing. Character, plot, dialogue, structure, voice, and the techniques that turn a draft into something worth reading. Craft advice from a writer with more than 100 books behind him.
science fictionBehind the Book: Collision with Andromeda
Collision with Andromeda sat unfinished for eight years. Here is the story behind a novel told partly from the point of view of a galaxy, and the lonely mind at its heart.
Book WritingCybersecurity, Memoir and Philosophy Are the Same Job
People assume the range is a problem. What transfers between a security book and a memoir is almost everything that matters.
Book WritingThree of My Books Should Not Exist
Not because they were badly made. Because the reason for making them was wrong, and no amount of craft fixes that.
EditingDave Could See That Jim Was Hurt. What Does That Even Mean?
She was happy. He was terrified. The hotel was romantic. Every one of those is the author reaching a conclusion the reader was supposed to reach.
Book WritingFinishing Is a Separate Skill From Writing
Almost nobody stops writing a book because they cannot write. They stop at one of three predictable places.
Creative WritingGhostwriting Poetry: Giving Someone Else’s Feeling Form
Ghostwriting poetry means channeling someone else's genuine emotion into form that sounds like them. It is the most intimate ghostwriting there is.
Book WritingI Will Tell You When Your Book Idea Is Bad
Most people in this trade will not tell you your idea is weak. They will take the deposit and find out with you.
AI and WritingGhostwriting in the Digital Age: The Tools Changed, the Craft Did Not
The tools of ghostwriting changed completely and the craft barely moved. Turning a person's knowledge into a book worth reading is exactly what it always was.
AI and WritingWriting a How-To Book Readers Can Truly Follow
A how-to book succeeds or fails on one thing: does the reader achieve the result. That means writing from the reader's side, not the expert's.
AEOArticle Writing in the AI Era: From Filling Space to Worth Citing
Article writing got more valuable, not less, as AI flooded the internet with generic content. The craft shifted from filling space to being worth citing.
Creative WritingWriting Poetry: The Craft Beneath the Inspiration
Writing poetry well is a craft with real technique underneath the inspiration. Image, sound, compression, and line breaks are tools a poet learns to control.