generating plot in fiction

In case you’re one of the few people who’ve managed to miss my news, THE TESTAMENT OF HAROLD’S WIFE is coming out September 25 from Kensington Books. I thought you might enjoy the real-life stories that gave life to this novel. There were two completely different experiences that planted the seeds. The first had to […]

Nancy’s husband sent a picture two days before she died. In that one, she wore a white sleeveless nightgown. Her grown sons leaned over either side of her, a hospice tray with a cup of applesauce in the foreground. She was sleeping. Perhaps she’d slipped into the mercy of a coma. Nancy Johnson Pinard was […]

I do promise that I’ll quit following that SUV after today! (It’s described in the Jan. 1st post if you’re a new reader.) If you don’t mind, let’s revisit it one more time to talk about another especially important component of fiction. Point of view. An author first addresses point(s) of view as s/he decides who will tell the story. For […]

Let’s go back to the slushy dark afternoon of my first post. Remember how I played sleuth and trailed the SUV? Already the painting on the back window had generated the makings of a plot. But a bit of tailgating yielded extra details: the birth date was Dec. 31, 2001, and the date of death […]

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” (Henry Miller) We have slogged through the winter solstice. Long fingers of twilight still reach up and take early hold of the afternoon of a sleety, biting day. Gray slush blends the […]