Well, hello! If you’re new to Vocabbett, I help students painlessly improve their vocabulary through stories; as such, I tend to do a lot of writing. Today we’re talking about character sketches, drawing on the creative process of my favorite author, Barbara Mertz (a.k.a. Elizabeth Peters) . Here’s what I found while researching her process: She did use character sketches early in her career, but stopped by 1992(ish) . As she explained in her winter 1992-1993 newsletter: “I

Not every author uses an outline. In general, there are two camps in the writing community: Plotters and pantsers...

Have you ever loved a book so much that when you finished it, you just sat in stunned silence for a moment? How did the author get these ideas ? you ask. Maybe you turn to Google and find some witty but ultimately meaningless response from the author, or nothing at all. For aspiring writers, this can be maddening! If each book is an invention, ideas are the schematics and blueprints. I want to know how you built this! Most of the books I referenced above were written by Eliza

Aspiring writers are often told to “write what you know.” It’s valuable advice, no doubt, lending verisimilitude to an otherwise...

The resounding writing advice today tends to be, “Just get the words on paper. You can edit it later. You can’t edit a blank page. All first drafts are garbage anyway…Just write the words and keep going!” The result?  Editing is BRUTAL because first drafts sound like Kronk from  The Emperor’s New Groove . I can virtually  guarantee  that if you take this approach with essays, you’ll end up with a garbage product or you’ll have to re-do it.  For books? Well, my experience is l