Mission: Hold Willing Captives

Mission: Hold Willing Captives

“I hate it when you find a book you love,” I said. Wife didn’t even look up. DOWN & DONE When wife’s hooked on a book, it’s not down ’til it’s done. She’s compelled to discover what happens to the characters living on the page. She...
Breaking, But Not Broken

Breaking, But Not Broken

I think we’re breaking up. I texted sixteen times in nine days. Granted, these were rapid-fire-single-sentence messages. Ten sent on the first day. Another six on the ninth. Of course, I’d waited 168 days to reply to his last text. I guess you can’t make up for six...
How to Create a Remarkable Villain (Beyond the Clichés!)

How to Create a Remarkable Villain (Beyond the Clichés!)

Your villain plays the most important role in your story. Yep, more important than your hero. That means you must go beyond the cliches when developing your villain, because generic platitudes such as maniacal laughter, minions and monologues are standard issue. But...