When minor characters turn hero…

Do books have room for more than one hero? Aunt Polly, Regulus Black, and Izz Huett think so!

5 poems that could be full-blown novels

Keeping it short and sweet is impressive, but some poems just leave you wanting more!

If Holden Caulfield was a girl…

would he have more friends? Would Elizabeth Bennett be quite so sassy if she was a man? And what would happen to Sherlock Holmes' intellect if he belonged to "the gentle sex?"

What do great book titles have in common?

A highly effective title is not just catchy. It is true to the book. It provides a sample of the writing style and the story to come. That's a big job for one little sentence fragment! Luckily, fantastic titles have some elements in common. Mix and match these elements to create your own legendary title.

Harry Potter and the Power of the Heptalogy

JK Rowling's Harry Potter books claim 7 of the slots in the top 10 bestselling books of all times. That's a stupefying statistic if I've ever heard one! Rowling's writing is enchanting in its own right. If she had stopped at Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the book still would have fared well with children. If she had wrapped Harry's …

A Prayer for Owen Meanie: Purrfect Characterization

Today I'm sharing a passage from a book that I admire but don't particularly like (do any of you all have those books?) John Irving is definitely among the highest echelons of lifelike-character craftsmen. While I don't particularly like any of his characters, I feel as confident in their existence, while I am reading his …

Put Your Characters to the Test

Throughout my life, I can think of a number of topics over which I have supremely geeked out. Personality tests are definitely one of my pet geekouts. I think the fascination began when I was a bored middle school student, with a binder full of paper tucked under my arm at all times. Middle school + boredom …

Peter Pan: Cold Medicine, Beastly Stuff

I recently moved into an apartment with a friend of mine who, equally to my detriment and delight, has excellent taste in literature. She has a bookshelf full of books, many of which I haven't read, in the hallway. I have caught a cold, and I think that lack of sleep due to reading until …