How could someone take a perfectly reasonable idea and turn it into something wildly, explosively, spectacularly out of hand?

The next time you're stuck for a plot, remember the absurdity of it all. The mistakes, the greed, the human error...

Serve the Weird (it's okay, you'll see what I mean)

As a writer, slip a little “Woodman’s Son” moment into your narrative for comic effect (or a fireplace tragedy)!

Welcome to Action Park: Where Fiction Writers Find Wickedly Flawed Characters

Let’s start with the obvious: writing 300 words a day sounds great in theory. It’s the literary equivalent of going to the gym regularly...

The Agincourt Playbook - How French Overconfidence (and Mud) Can Ruin Everything

Ah, verschlimmbesserung—one of those delightful German words that perfectly captures the phenomenon of well-intentioned failure.

Dodging the "Giggles of Death"

“Shake It Off”: A Snarky Writer’s Guide to Rejections, Bad Reviews, and Agent Preferences for Dragons

"Everything Is About Sex; Except Sex, Which Is About Power": A Cheat Code for Writers

The Piltdown Man Hoax: Skull Fragments, Cricket Bats, and the Art of Character Chaos

The Nudge: When Life Whispers, “Pay Attention!”

“Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys”: The All-Too-Convenient Art of Not Caring

Writing Characters? Pile on the Calamities Like It’s 1755

"Who is the Third Person Who Walks Beside You?”: Shackleton, Eliot, and the Lost Art of Hangry Hallucinations

Ah, the Battle of Cannae, the ancient spectacle of death and disarray.

Daniel Quilp is one of the main antagonists in The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. He’s a grotesque, malicious, and deformed dwarf.

How to Write a Snarky Character (Without Making Readers Roll Their Eyes)

High Emotions, Weak Bonds: Writing the Drama of Youth