‘Meaty’ Stories, and How to Write One

By Laura Drake | February 8, 2021 |

I watched The Dig on Netflix last night, after several writer friends told me it was good. It was, and it got me thinking about stories that you think are about one thing, but are really about something else. Spoiler alert – I will tell the ending! If you haven’t seen it, here’s the trailer:…

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How Spill Strong Emotion on the Page

By Laura Drake | November 2, 2020 |

I’ll admit, this blog was sparked by THIS one (it’s awesome-go read it-we’ll wait). It had a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald: “… I’m afraid the price for doing professional work is a good deal higher than you are prepared to pay at the moment. You’ve got to sell your heart, your strongest reactions, not…

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A Bit on Backstory

By Laura Drake | June 22, 2020 |

Backstory is important. It gives essential context to what’s happening in the story. So why does it have such a bad rep? Because writers are heavy-handed with it. It’s a garnish – not a main course. The majority of badly handled backstory I see is at the beginning of the book. A friend of mine,…

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