By Chris Mandeville The author book signing: you sit behind piles of your gorgeous books, surrounded by adoring readers who buy your books and have you autograph them. Awesome right? But unfortunately not always realistic. Unless you are very famous, book signings can be dull affairs where the author sits alone twiddling her thumbs, smiling nervously and hoping someone will
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By Chris Mandeville Many writers begin their careers with short stories—they’re easier to tackle and faster to complete. But not me. I dove into novel writing right out of the gate, so I’m a late-comer to the short story. Recently I had the opportunity to submit a story to an anthology that benefits the scholarship fund of a writer’s conference
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By Chris Mandeville Nothing banishes a writer’s critical inner editor like improv writing. Just like improvisational acting, improv writing is off-the-cuff, unplanned, uncorrected artistic expression, and it can be a powerful tool for sparking inspiration, enhancing creativity, and boosting productivity by shutting up that pesky inner critic. I learned about improv writing from a group that meets at a bookstore each week
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by Chris Mandeville Arts and crafts, anyone? Get out your old magazines, some scissors and glue, and a poster board because—believe it or not—creating a collage can serve as a powerful writing tool. Just ask award-winning bestseller Barbara Samuel (who also writes as Barbara O’Neal): “Collaging gives me a way to brainstorm without words, to find the mood and
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by Chris Mandeville The first page of your manuscript contains only sixteen lines, and this “sweet sixteen” is an essential tool for hooking a reader. If Page One doesn’t capture the interest of the editor, agent, or book browser, chances are your story will be set aside, so it’s important to make those first sixteen lines as successful as possible.
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