It’s hard to predict which characters readers will fall in love with. In my novel Spear, I expected test readers to connect with Bethany—the companion of the main character, Thomasyn. I even worked to make her the emotional centre of the story. But readers gravitated...
It’s amazing how many people still believe there’s a special formula for writing a book. They sit down, pour out what they assume others will rush to the bookstore to buy, and then—voilà—they expect success. After finishing the manuscript, they might ask a friend or...
Artists can be flaky, hard to pin down, and occasionally unreliable. How do I know? Because I’m an artist—and I just described myself. A few days ago, Ian reached out to remind me about an interview I had arranged. Unfortunately, the interviewee had failed to respond...
It happens. You receive an email alerting you to a new review of your book or graphic novel. With anticipation—and maybe a touch of anxiety—you visit the site, hoping for praise. But instead, you’re greeted with no profile photo, a generic username, and a...
I have so many ideas for this column that deciding what to write first was no easy task. What knowledge could I share? What techniques should I describe? Where should I begin? Initially, I considered diving into how one identifies their writing style, or the...
