In fiction craft, it’s a nearly universal struggle for writers to keep track of their antagonists. (If you don’t struggle with this, count yourself lucky. If you do, never fear! You’re not alone, and I think this will help.) First, note that keeping track of your antagonist is different from developing your antagonist. Development… MORE
No Comments
Do You Know Where Your Antagonists Are? (Part II)
by Angie Hodapp
Imagine the opening of a contemporary YA fantasy manuscript. The heroine is fleeing through a forest at night, chased by a hulking, hairy hellhound with sharp claws and sharper teeth. The heroine trips over a log and breaks her leg. As the beast closes in, the heroine, dizzy with pain… MORE
1 Comment
(Just a note, this article was featured in our November 2020 Newsletter. To receive our articles first, you can subscribe to our newsletter here.) 305 = The number of days from when I submitted a client manuscript to when I received the response from the editor. Ten months. That’s a long… MORE
1 Comment
Miraculous Knowing: Instinct, Intuition, and Insight in Fiction
by Angie Hodapp
I wanted to chat this month about something that happens quite frequently in fiction (both published and unpublished), something I’ve dubbed “miraculous knowing.” This is when answers or solutions conveniently occur to a character at key plot moments. It tends to manifest thusly: • They didn’t know how they knew.… MORE
2 Comments
On October 15, Publishers Lunch sent out their daily email blast. In it, they rounded up the pre-sales happening before the virtual Frankfurt Book Fair and included this chart, which spotlights the surge in debut-fiction sales. To quote from the article: “As this chart makes clear, the 59 reports in the measured… MORE
2 Comments