L.V. DITCHKUS

A craft flaw that many authors struggle with is how to strike a balance between what is overexplained and underexplained in your story. Let me clarify by giving a few examples: Overexplaining (i.e., repeating information that should be obvious from other text) “Why would you help us?” He glared at me as if trying to read my intent through my eyes. The reader should know the glare comes from the character being suspicious. It would be better to simply say: “Why would you help

Over the course of writing sci-fi—both short stories and longer works—I’ve come to realize something that might sound obvious, but it’s...

I recently wrote a fictionalized version of a personal family story. I want to share the steps I took to keep it emotionally true while...

I wrote my first science fiction story during a Central Colorado Writers’ free-write session. Our facilitator led the meeting wearing a...

Point of View or (POV) is the perspective from which a story is observed or narrated. How an author shapes the POV can influence the...

For me, it was easy to start writing novels without considering where writing fits into my life. I loved to write and felt I had stories...

Lately, I’ve been reading recently published books in the sci-fi and fantasy genres (e.g., Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway published in...

While most of my novels and short stories contain elements that (I’ve heard) can elicit a smile or an occasional audible guffaw, I’ve...

My jaw dropped when someone told me Lion King is based on Hamlet. Then I considered the storylines: Both are about an heir apparent who...

Maybe it’s our upbringing that makes the word No sound so final. About when we hit two years old, we started saying that word to our...

It’s okay to show up at a conference like a blank slate and drink it all in, but that’s not how I approach it. If I paid to attend, I...

A few months ago, I attended the Mountain Words Festival in Crested Butte, Colorado—a stunning mountain town with a world-class ski area...

While at this year’s RMFW conference in Denver, I picked up loads of writing craft tips, re-wrote the logline for the second book in my...

Don’t let opportunities escape—no matter how mundane or seemingly inane. We've just returned from a trip to visit dear friends in Ottawa,...

The storyteller’s point of view (POV) creates a bond between your readers and the story. As an author, you should consider whether that...

Each principal character in your novel or short story should be unique, and this distinctiveness is more than how they look. Every...

When there’s inconsistency in your story OR individuals act out of character, you’ve got a plot hole that needs to be fixed. Here’s a few...

Some authors write every day. Others (like me) write a minimum number of hours per week. When I look back at my logged hours, I see very...

So you’ve finished writing the best book on the planet. Now it’s time to design a cover that potential readers can’t resist. Besides the...

As a judge for the upcoming Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC), my team and I will be reviewing about 60 books (out of...