We all live in fear. Some of us more than others, but we all have secret dreads lurking in the corners of our mind. Fear of growing old, or letting our children come to harm, or not making the grade, or perhaps a ghostly presence we sense late at night.
Look for the fears in your stories, and bring them to life in ways so we, too, feel that fear.
Fear can play a role in any kind of story, but it’s especially prominent in those stories with a touch of horror. A really scary story—one that scares Stephen King and Neil Gaiman—is Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House (now adapted into a TV series). Continue reading “Be Afraid”
Lately I’ve been trying to wrap up a story—without success—and every time I take another run at it, I think of something I 
A classic bit of advice in the book Elements of Style: Omit needless words.