Chopsticks   Writing Advice by Mette Ivie Harrison

Past Columns January 2019 • Characters Without Names December 2018 • A Synopsis or a Summary? November 2018 • Is It Time to Give Up? October 2018 • Remember When September 2018 • No Guarantees for Revision August 2018 • Directing the Film of Your Novel July 2018 • All the Ways Authors Procrastinate June 2018 • The Chorus May 2018 • The Inner Journey and the Outer Journey April 2018 • Where and How Do You Find an Agent? March 2018 • The Try/Fail Cycle February 2018 • Why You Need an Agent January 2018 • Outlining December 2017 • When a Writer Doesn't Write November 2017 • Character Sketches October 2017 • Cut Out All the Bad Parts September 2017 • Write for Yourself August 2017 • Embracing Failure July 2017 • Write A New Book June 2017 • Pay Attention to Your Own Work May 2017 • The First Half of Your Book Needs to Match the Second Half March 2017 • How to Write a Query Letter February 2017 • Talent vs. Skill January 2017 • How Writers Procrastinate December 2016 • The Publishing World October 2016 • 10 Step Novel Structure September 2016 • Listen to Criticism August 2016 • Three Stages of a Writing Career July 2016 • Using Big Words June 2016 • Is Your Writing Naked? May 2016 • The Book Only You Can Write October 2015 • Finding a Safe Place for Your Writing September 2015 • Kickstarting Your Plot August 2015 • Art is Selfish July 2015 • 12 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Magic System June 2015 • Not Every Book Has to Be a Bestseller May 2015 • Plot Formulas Stink April 2015 • Protecting Your Creative Self March 2015 • Art Needs You February 2015 • The Book of Your Heart January 2015 • 7 Bad Plots • What You'll Hear • Prologs and First Chapters • The Apprenticeship • Raising Tension Through 13 Threats • Killing Your Darlings • Prologs and First Chapters • Character Leads to Plot, and Plots Leads to Character • Magic Rules and the Secret History of Magic • How to Choose Your Best Book Idea • Pitching Your Book • What is Voice? • What is YA? • Advanced Character Development • Minor Characters • Barrier to Entry • What You Think You're Good At • My Bucket List • Don't Be Boring • Closing the Door • On Criticizing Other Authors • On Happy Endings and Happy Families • Kryptonite • One Really Good Story - Or don't tell me about what happens in Book 3 • Outlines and Telling the Wrong Part of the Story • Why Talent Doesn't Matter (and Probably Doesn't Exist Anyway) • In Media Res • 21 Plot Shapes and the Pros and Cons of Each • Self-Publishing the Smart Way • Writing Characters of the Opposite Gender • Social Media for the Socially Inept • How to Write a Scene • Twelve "Rules" About Publishing To Break • Borrowing the Future in the New Year • First Lines • How To Do a Con • Rules for Critiquing • Writer's Block • What We Control -- And What We Don't • The Critic In Your Head and Other Scary Monsters • When You're Trying Too Hard • When Bad Things Happen to Good Writers • Why Rejection is a Gift • On Titles and Cover Art • How to Write Romance (In Fantasy) • How to Take Criticism (and How Not to) • Rules of Revision • How to Write a Sympathetic Protagonist • The Art of Meeting Deadlines • Why Your Family Doesn't Want You To Be A Writer • All Writers Are Thieves • In the Details • How to Find a Good Writing Group • 14 Agent Questions • Top 10 Mistakes I Made as a Writer • The Author-Editor Relationship • 20 Novels That Will Never Be Published, And Why • How to Write Good Dialog • Writing Talent and Prodigies • Backstory • Point of View • How to Write a Villain • Catharsis • How to Deal with Jealousy • How to Create a Series Hero • 50 Miles of Writing • How to Write A Strong Heroine • How to Write a Fantasy for Young People (in 20 easy steps) • How to Write Twisty Plots • What a Story Is -- And Isn't • How Do I Find Time to Write? • Beginnings, Middles, and Ends • What to Write: Imitation, Voice, and the Emperor's New Clothes