The Organizing Principle, for Fun and Profit
One of the most often overlooked tools in the storyteller’s toolbox is the organizing principle. All kinds of stories can benefit from organizing principles—from memoir and literary fiction to creative nonfiction and genre fiction. An organizing principle is not the...
Paula’s Elevator Pitch Formula
The Elevator Pitch is that fabled 1-minute pitch you can rattle off whenever you find yourself in the company of someone who can help you publish your book: an editor, an agent, a published writer, etc. Whether you’re at a pitch slam or a hotel bar or in an actual...
Binge Watching for Writers, Part Deux: Top 10 Documentaries about Writers
Writers are often obsessed with the lives of other writers, the more acclaimed, the better. I’m no exception and for the same reason I read all those The Paris Review interviews with writers and listen to all those NPR stories about writers—to glean some insight, some...