This weekend, for the first time in . . . a really long time, I went to the movies. With two small children, this is a rare treat. My husband picked the movie—Gravity—and I was happy to go in with almost no knowledge of what the film was. Apart from it starring Sandra Bullock and […]

I didn’t write a plot outline when I wrote my novel because, quite frankly, I didn’t know what was going to happen. If I were to do it again—and in fact, I am doing it again, as I begin a new project—I would take the time to write an outline. Why?   It’s become clear […]

Structuring a novel is no easy task, especially when a large part of what happens in the present is dependent upon something that took place in the past. We real live humans are built on our experiences, and it is only fitting that a character’s personal history plays a significant role in establishing his or […]