Whenever we see the past-perfect tense used with the verb “had,” the author is telling about something that happened earlier. While this is grammatically acceptable, it’s often not the most...

Readers today will appreciate getting the most vivid mental pictures from the fewest number of words. Great words from Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James: She hands me a...

An eleven-year-old blind boy wants to break free from his dark world and see the light. The visual cortex of his brain is exceptionally active because he must create his...

We don’t build much emotion for the readers when we write telling statements like “she screamed” or “she was terrified.” We really show our ignorance if we can use an...

How much drama can be written into the simple process of answering the phone? Answer: quite a bit if we can find the details that describe the emotional journey. Great...

In reading a bestseller, you should find paragraphs that almost take your breath away. You say, “I wish I could write like that.” Maybe you can, but not without practice....

Do you know what “abject” means? Maybe so, but you’re the one person who won’t be reading what you’ve written. To be quickly understood and engage most readers, we need...

This author writes very well in present tense, which is about as easy as climbing a mountain with an extra fifty pounds in your backpack. Great words from The Girl...

Many well-read authors now write in first-person point of view, present tense, which forces readers into the character’s perspective and intensifies the present moment. This style takes practice to write…

We can make the picture stronger if we find ways to focus on “what is” rather than “what is not.” Great words from The Girl on the Train by Paula…