Writing Craft

Reader response theory is a literary theory that focuses on the reader and his experience of the literary work, in contrast to other schools of thought that focus primarily on the content and form of the work.   I am a big proponent of this

As an unknown writer, I am a prime target for the many harsh critics out there in the world. They mostly take the form of negative, unhelpful reviews on Amazon or Goodreads.  I often disappoint myself by getting caught up in this negativity.  By

Silvia moves through the world like a Peanut’s character dancing.  Frank moves from one side of the kitchen to the other like he is keeping beat to a Polka song.  Cosmo moves with a bounce in his step, his head bopping back and forth like a

I named this posting after the wonderful Simon and Garfunkel song.  My novel begins and ends in silence. This is a literary technique, sometimes referred to as Bookends or Framing Device, that I have always admired and wanted to use in my novel.

Avoiding stereotypes is key in creating dimensional characters. Although the characters in my Greco Family Trilogy books are Italian-American and from New Jersey, they are much different than the cast of Jersey Shore or The Sopranos. Like many

Although I knew the general plot through my outline, around midway through the writing of my book, my characters started doing things that I had not planned for them. They surprised me by certain decisions and or actions.  This was when I knew

All of my favorite writers have one thing in common: Their use of humor.  Flannery O’Connor’s use of black humor adds greatly to adds to the characterization and the setting in her stories. Another one of my writers is Nathanael West

The quote above from J.R.R. Tolkien resonated so much with me because I felt that it really spoke of my own process for writing my novel. My novel began with a description of a single character that I subsequently incorporated into a short