I met Evan Guilford-Blake this summer at the Mississippi Writer’s Guild conference . He’s an award-winning playwright, the author of a brand-new noir novel, Noir(ish), and a fascinating guy. He’s stopped by the blog today to write about what books and movies inspired him to write his new novel and—exciting news—to give you the opportunity...Read More

Earlier in this blog, I talked about setting the book in a place you’d love to vacation. It’s not a bad idea. Chances are if we like the setting of our novel, our readers will find it a wonderful place to visit, too. Think back to your favorite books. No doubt part of what made...Read More

Writing is its own reward. —Henry Miller Have you seen my dining room table? Yeah, neither have I. Sometime after school started, it became buried under school forms, mail, library books, and CDs. At dinner time, we usually push the junk to one side of the table to make room for our plates. But the...Read More

As a reader, I often get bored by long descriptions of  place. After pages of flowery language about the shape of the topography or the decorative style of a house, I will scream at my book: enough already! Still, in the best novels, the setting supports the story in an integral way. When I recall...Read More