Janet Fox

I’m a fan of Steven Pressfield. He’s a screenwriter who also shares his substantial knowledge of craft, and I’ve been following him for a long time. A while back he wrote this post about the villain (antagonist). At the time I wanted to argue with him in the same way he argued with his former… Read more »

That idea that just won’t leave you alone…that image that plays in your head…that scene you wrote out of the blue…that character who talks to you while you’re doing the dishes… That can indeed become a story. But, you ask, how? My Own Experience One day at my desk, with no warning or fanfare, I… Read more »

Back in the day I believed that picture books were THE books for kids. I had good reason to feel this way as BHP (Before Harry Potter) there was no real “middle grade” category, and YA was still in the semi-adult realm, with books like The Red Badge of Courage. So, like many of you,… Read more »

And is it for you? As you probably already know, the publishing world is going through a huge transition. The big New York houses are combining (or trying to – most recently, a judge denied the proposed purchase by Penguin Random House of Simon and Schuster, that would have merged the two). Self-publishing has become… Read more »

I recently checked in with a writing client who feels stuck. She has three young kids, a full-time corporate writing job, has struggled with the aftereffects of a bout with Covid, and 2022 really kicked some dust in her path. All of this added up to a lack of creative energy (no surprise!) and I… Read more »

One of my all-time favorite movies is Galaxy Quest. It’s a sharply funny spoof of one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Star Trek. I love the internal theme of Galaxy Quest, too: “Never give up, never surrender.” Whether it’s overcoming aliens or human foes or personal hurdles, it’s a great motto. What is Persistence?… Read more »

The holidays are here and first and foremost, I want to thank you all for being loyal readers and friends. I love bringing craft knowledge to this blog. In fact, I love teaching so much that I’m putting more energy into creating content that I hope will help you fulfill your dreams. Whether you hope… Read more »

A Masterclass for Middle Grade and Young Adult Writers Learn to write your novel at a fraction of the cost of an MFA! I’m super excited to introduce my upcoming Masterclass, with a start date of early spring 2023. The class is based on my 20 years in publishing, my craft education including an MFA… Read more »

Do you have critique partners? You’ve probably heard that the way to improve your writing is to have partners who will read your work and give you feedback. Yes, that’s certainly true, and I’ve had excellent partners through the years. But good critique partners can be hard to find, and matching up with the wrong… Read more »

A couple of weeks ago I addressed plot, and how the Save The Cat template is useful for sketching out the bones of a story. But there’s more to this idea of creating a skeleton, for stories (with the exception of metafiction) share a common structure. This structure is based upon the concept of turning… Read more »