Welcome to Action Park: Where Fiction Writers Find Wickedly Flawed Characters

Shocking Creativity: From Electric Therapy to Escaped Horses and Dead Soldiers—A Journey of Tangents

“Shake It Off”: A Snarky Writer’s Guide to Rejections, Bad Reviews, and Agent Preferences for Dragons

The Nudge: When Life Whispers, “Pay Attention!”

Functional families might be nice in real life, but they’re boring as hell on the page.

“Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys”: The All-Too-Convenient Art of Not Caring

The idea that we can only control so much resonates deeply with the concept of plot twists.

Writing Characters? Pile on the Calamities Like It’s 1755

Tim & LeeAnna discuss the unexpected twists of history and how to spin them into creative fiction

"Who is the Third Person Who Walks Beside You?”: Shackleton, Eliot, and the Lost Art of Hangry Hallucinations

Fiction becomes “alive” when it reflects universal truths about the human condition.

Stereotypes, after all, are only interesting when they're turned on their heads. Besides, even pseudoscience has its place...

After all, betrayal isn’t just about hurting others. Sometimes it’s about miscommunication or just plain stupidity.

Ah, the Battle of Cannae, the ancient spectacle of death and disarray.

In the end, it’s not about getting everything right. It’s about leaning into the chaos...

Daniel Quilp is one of the main antagonists in The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. He’s a grotesque, malicious, and deformed dwarf.

How to Write a Snarky Character (Without Making Readers Roll Their Eyes)

High Emotions, Weak Bonds: Writing the Drama of Youth

The more your characters fail to understand each other, the more your readers will love watching them try.