Category: Revision

Creative Symbiosis

Before I wrote regularly, I made art. My mother was an artist and art teacher, so I guess it was in my DNA. As a child, I drew stories — graphic novels without written words. As a young adult, I…

Sex in YA Novels

There’s a lot of discussion online about sex in YA novels: too much of, not enough of, inappropriateness of, negative consequences of, condoning of, etc. etc. Among the critiques I received on the first draft of my YA novel was…

Simplify: Novel, Dogs, Job

As I got older, I thought life would get simpler. I’d go to work. I’d come home. I’d read away the hours. In my thirties, I discovered writing (well, rediscovered it after a particularly unhelpful, James Joyce-loving professor told me…

Leitmotifs For My Characters

Feeling a bit of cabin fever? Try coming up with a theme song for each major character in your novel. Fellow incubee Anjali Mathur gave me this idea last spring when she said she put on certain songs when she…