James D. Best

Charlie Jane Anders wrote a piece for io9 about How to Write Descriptive Passages Without Boring the Reader or Yourself . Her article inclu...

Jennifer Cody Epstein published, “10 Rules for Rewriting History” at Writer Unboxed .  As a historical writer, I found the article help...

Every novelist wants a memorable first sentence. There are innumerable lists of great and dreadful first sentences. (#95 at the great lin...

I write historical fiction. I chose this genre because I enjoy the research and a historical novel can last forever. My first book was a no...

Kim McDougall of Castelane, Inc. recently wrote to  ask for permission to re-publish  on the new  Castlelane website   an article I wrote f...

Flavorwire published a list of writing tools used by famous authors . I was disappointed in the article because they failed to ask me about...

I don’t believe there are only seven basic stories types, or that all stories are about “a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to tow...

No! Well, that's the simple answer. I have a rationale behind my answer: If the friend doesn't like the character — bye, bye...

Once upon a time, I feared red ink … now I look forward to it. The red ink means another set of professional eyes are helping me write ...

In a previous post I wrote about giving the reader a clear signal that the point of view was about to change. It all depends on how yo...

I’m reading a thriller from a big name author. It’s a bestseller published under a Simon & Schuster imprint. Yeah, I found a few typ...