LAURENCE MACNAUGHTON

  • Erotica author Tiffany Reisz Here to prove that you can write a novel about even the most risque of topics is author Tiffany Reisz, who has a two-book deal with Harlequin Spice and three erotica novellas either out or coming…

  • Author J.A. Konrath I happened across this writing article by J.A. Konrath recently at  Backspace, The Writer’s Place.  I remember reading it years ago, probably in Writer’s Digest somewhere.  Joe really knows his stuff when it comes to literary agents,…

  • If you’re like me, ideas swirl around you all the time — stories, characters, settings, dialogue, and so on.  It sticks in your brain, so you write it down.  Before long, you have so many scraps of paper around you…

  • That’s right, folks.  You already know you can write a novel — and now’s your chance to prove it.  Thanks to the heroic efforts of Brenda Novak and her elite team of auction experts, you have a chance to help…

  • Just a quick reminder that bidding starts Sunday for the Brenda Novak Diabetes Fundraiser.  This year, aspiring writers get a chance to win some incredible prizes.  Seriously, some mind-blowing stuff!  Like lunch with agents, editors and other Very Important People. …

  • Anybody who has ever worked in advertising (like yours truly, natch) knows how tough it is to tell a good story while you’re trying to promote a product.  I could bring up the time I had to write about a…

  • You can write a novel that seems absolutely perfect to you: the dialogue is tight, the characters are richly layered and the plot crackles with energy.  But you’ll still get notes, I guarantee it.  And that’s a good thing. Notes,…

  • Meet bestselling author Robert Buettner, a man who’s not afraid to do his research firsthand — even when it involves a real-life main battle tank!  In this segment on You Can Write A Novel, Buettner talks about how ebooks have…

  • Ebooks have always been a hot-button topic in the publishing business.  And that was before bestselling author Barry Eisler walked away from a half-million-dollar deal in favor of self-publishing his own ebooks. And yes, you read that right: a half…

  • Bestselling author and all-around nice guy Robert Buettner is back on You Can Write A Novel to give us a glimpse of what it’s like to be the author of a “big” book — and he tells us how he…

From the blog

  • Want to Get Published? Read This.

    I’ve talked to dozens of best-selling authors about their early years, before they were published. And the similarities between them are striking. On average, they wrote about half a dozen unpublished manuscripts before they sold a novel. (By the way, this is what I call the Myth of the First Novel. Because it’s hardly ever…

  • Compelling Character Arcs in 4 Easy Steps

    I’ll let you in on a secret: readers want your character to change. They know, deep down, that your character is unhappy with the status quo at the beginning of your book. Something is terribly wrong in your character’s life, and things can’t keep going on this way. Something’s got to give. Readers fervently hope…