storyville-master_lr.jpg

This column is going to be all about setting. How much is too much, how much is too little? How can I advance the plot, reveal character and ground my story in reality? How do I work all of the senses into my story without feeling like I’m just cramming those details in? How do I make it feel real? I’ll talk about all of these things and what setting means to me, as well as how I work it into my own writing. So let’s get started.

pexels-cottonbro-studio-5185087.png

Header image via Pexels

Three years ago I headed toward the ‘advice for writers’ shelf at Barnes and Noble. I was beginning my research on advice for writers as I was finally leaving my literary agent mantle behind and making my casual role as publishing counsel official. I was and wasn’t shocked to discover the genre had exploded. I felt as though I was seeing, at the very least, double the titles that were offered a mere five years before.

personal-essay.jpg

What is a Personal Essay?

You probably have a pretty good idea of what an essay is, but if you want to get all technical about it, the word essay has a couple of meanings:

true-crime-top-10.jpg

Sinister is in theaters this month, a horror film telling the story of Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke), a true crime author who moves his family into a house where despicable crimes were once committed. As one might expect, that’s a bad idea. The scares quickly escalate, but Oswalt is so committed to following up his last best-seller with something important, what he calls his In Cold Blood, that he’s not going anywhere until he gets his story.