Fiction Writing

In Praise of Public Libraries

I recently had the honor of speaking at the 2016 New England Library Association Conference. As I walked up the steps to the podium, I kept my eyes

Where Fantasy and Reality Collide: One Novelist’s Happy Coincidences

I came downstairs just as my husband returned from our local liquor store, where he'd gone to buy wine for dinner. He brandished a bottle of rum at

How Do You Write a Novel? Learn the Rules. Then Break Them.

It's tempting to believe that novelists who have already published books know “the secret.” But every novel, whether it's your first or

Should You Track Word Count While Writing a Novel? Yes, No, and Maybe So

If you eavesdrop on a conversation between writers, it's easy to mistake talk about craft for something else. Marathons, maybe. “I had

On Horses, My New Book Cover, and Coming Full Circle

My dad was a Navy officer, yet he was sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas when I was eleven years old. Yes, Kansas: not exactly a seafaring

I Wrote for 17 Minutes Yesterday!

Last weekend, I participated on two different author panels during the 2016 Newburyport Literary Festival, an event packed with

Author Jennifer Brown Talks about How to Research a Novel, Conquering Rejection, and Writing Even When It Hurts

I'm addicted to book review porn the way some people ogle real estate ads, vacation brochures, or the latest iPhone gadgets. When I first read the

How One Coach Got Me Off the Couch—and Inspired My Writing

I'm the mother of three champion long distance runners. I honestly don't know how that happened, since I was never a runner. But I showed up at almost

When Writing, Sometimes All You Can Do Is Jump

The most important thing every writer has to do is take a leap of faith. What does that mean, exactly? That, no matter how stuck you are at the

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Fiction Writing