Finishing a book, putting that last word on the page, usually involves cheering and a sense of accomplishment. Truth is, though, that you're most likely not finished. Create a file on your computer or get a spiral notebook that you label with your book's name and keep notes inside. Now it's time to re-read and catch glitches in the plot or mis-spellings or missing words or impossible feats by characters or…. The list can go on and on. If you make a change that you know will affect a future event in the book, make a note in your file or in your notebook since you know you'll have to change things later on in the book. Take care as you stack up the pieces of your book. Be on the lookout for pet words used over and over. You probably won't even know you're using them unless you search for them. If you do a search and find for, say, weeping, and find that you’ve used it eight times, that may be too many times. Find another word or way of saying what you wan...

Interested in developing the voice and style of your characters? Interested in fine-tuning your characters by focusing on how they relate to particular people? Interested in understanding your character's personality, his/her wants, hopes, and desires? Write a letter. Epistolary writing can add great realism and truth to a story, to your character; it can - in quick exercises - help you to decipher your characters and get into their heads. Recently, I made my media writing students write two letters - one to a parent and one to a best friend, in which they revealed the same secret. I was elated by how creative they became; some of them came up with insane secrets, purely hilarious secrets that entertained me to no end. But what was illuminated the most by their letters was the sender's voice and how the sender switched up his/her style and approach depending on the audience. More often than not, students revealed only partial truth to their parents; whereas, to their best frien...