“And the winner is…” A reflection on writing success I was pretty sure I’d win. After all, I’d been writing for six years—mostly for curriculum publishers and magazines, and I was confident that I really had my act together. The writers’ conference I was attending had a short-story-writing contest and, thankfully for me, although […]
Author Archives: Steven James
Story Trumps Structure
Story Trumps Structure Twelve years ago, I had an idea for a series of mysteries featuring a one-armed detective. At that time, I attended a seminar by a well-known novelist who taught us to outline our fiction carefully and meticulously and then stick to the outline as we crafted our stories. In some cases, he […]
Move by Move: How to Outline
Move by Move: How to Outline More than a decade ago, I had an idea for a series of thrillers featuring a one-armed detective. I attended a seminar by a well-known novelist who taught us to carefully and meticulously outline our novels and then stick to the outline. Well, I didn’t get very far in […]