~ Our theme for February is Partnerships, and today we (ahem) kick off with a look at the fictional partnerships between main characters and their sidekicks. ~ In addition to a unique main character, many stories feature unforgettable sidekicks, such as: Sherlock Holmes 's friend and biographer Dr. Watson who provides the practicality to Holmes's genius. Batman and his protégé Robin exemplified experience versus the rashness of youth. Captain Kirk and Spock represent the perfect balance between freewheeling emotion and cautious logic. Here are a few tips for creating a memorable partner. 1. Avoid cardboard cutout props. Make your sidekick fully three dimensional. Give him goals and stakes as well as opinions. 2. Give him autonomy. Don't create a tin soldier sitting on a shelf, activated only when needed. Make sure he has momentum of his own. Give him a history that motivates and a present with complications. 3. Change it up. The sidekick doesn'...

After several years away from writing anything but blog posts, I am thrilled to announce my fifteen new book babies and the completion of my Story Building Blocks series as envisioned ten years (yes a decade!) ago. Where has the time gone? They are proof that neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor a mortal battle for one's life can keep a determined writer down forever. In 2007 I wrote Story Building Blocks I: The Four Layers of Conflict , introducing a method I developed for crafting sound story architecture. A revised and updated version is now available in print and e-book . It can take you from story seed to a bare bones draft . Then I added SBB II: Crafting Believable Conflict which twists, warps, and tortures sixteen character mannequins based on personality types. The SBB Build A Cast Workbook helps you cast your novel with all sixteen characters. I also wrote SBB III: The Revision Layers to help writers present a revised draft for submission or to help...

So many posts circulating on Facebook perpetuate stereotypes about men and women. They get a lot of likes and shares. They are funny on the surface and touch on shared experiences. But not every guy is into beer and cars and not every woman wants flowers and chocolates. Eliminating gender assumptions allows for a more interesting spectrum of characters to work with and can help send healthier messages. Traits such as introversion versus extraversion, sensing, feeling,thinking, and judging exist on a spectrum and transcend gender definitions. They are further shaped by our childhood wounds, nurturing (or lack of), and etched by society. There is a movement to change the messages we send girls about how they should manifest in the world, but the messages are still tainted by gender stereotypes. An equal amount of focus should be on the messages we send to boys about their presence in the world, without perpetuating unhealthy gender stereotypes. Tweet this:  As ...

History is written by the victors, mainly male victors, leaving the tales of heroic women buried in the sands of time. A simple search for female spies led me to a hundred different heroines whose stories deserve to be told.  I present a few of the most fascinating. 1. Mary Bowser and Elizabeth Van Lew Mary was born a slave on a plantation in Richmond, Virginia owned by the Van Lews. Upon Mr. Van Lew's death, Mary was freed but remained as a servant of the household. She was sent to the Philadelphia School for Negroes by Elizabeth Van Lew and learned how to read and write. That would make a riveting literary tale, but it gets better. Elizabeth was unpopular for her Union sympathizing and pretended to be crazy to deflect from her efforts to aid a spy ring and hide escaped soldiers on her estate. Mary adopted the pose of a feeble minded servant to spy on Jefferson Davis in his own home. These two actress activists deserve at least fifteen minutes of fame. 2. Belle Boyd Be...