Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

You probably won't be surprised to learn I read a lot of unpublished manuscripts. I also read a lot of published work. Are there some glaring differences between the two? You betcha. The fact is most beginning writers write too much. That's okay for the first draft but when it comes to editing, you need to give that delete key a thorough work out! Good writing is about pacing. It's about taking the reader on a journey and keeping in step with them along the way. If you get the pacing wrong, the reader will stumble and begin to lose interest because it will seem you are more interested in writing the words than telling the story or relaying the information. Here are some tips on how to cut down on unnecessary verbiage! The Art of Description With the advent of global communication and visual media, we all know what most things and even most places look like. It's no longer necessary ...

I thought I'd outline some of the perks associated with living the writer's life. Most are obvious but others less so. 1. You Get Your Name in Print The career author knows that many people spend their entire lives trying to get to this, stage one, of the writer's life.  When it happens, you may never take it for granted.  Having your words in print is like an endorsement of who you are. Somehow you matter.  And that feels good. 2. You Get Recognition There are two aspects of this.  One, you get people coming up to you at the mall who know your name - which is kind of weird the first time it happens - actually every time it happens because it's easy to forget you're 'known' through your writing, even  if you're not very famous. Two, you go places or call people and they say, "Yeah, I know you," and it takes you by surprise.  It's like having a flag-bearing messenger running ahead of you, breathlessly telling people y...

My first attempt at writing a nonfiction book is still, to this day, unfinished.  Ironic because it was a book about motivation - and how to overcome obstacles to the creative process! Of course many of the ideas the book was going to explore I have used in the 30 or so books I've written since - but I sometimes find it odd that my first book was basically on a back-burner for about a decade while I struggled to find time to write it. I read the other day that procrastination is not really based on a fear of accomplishment, but on a fear of  beginning . And not just beginning in the sense of starting out, making notes and thinking - but really  starting , as in being  involved  in creating. That resonated with me because I realized that's why I never got around to writing that first book.  All the time I wasn't starting and being involved in the book, I had no reason to pursue its completion. Of course, for years I believed the bo...

For a struggling author, there's nothing worse than reading a great book. Finding an author who is patently superior to yourself can be a most humbling and depressing experience. What more confirmation do you need that you'll probably never reach the heights - or, it seems, even be able to put a decent sentence together without embarrassment. One such superior author is Denis Lehane. I just spent the last week reading  Mystic River  - a work of fiction so profoundly brilliant I decided at one point I was never going to write another word. Why should I bother when this guy has got the whole writing thing down pat... I mean, not only is the characterization consistently awesome, the plot is multi-layered, complex yet simple in all the right ways. It's also superbly written with an understanding the English language that seems effortless and divinely inspired by equal measure. I've read interviews with Lehane and he's no slouch when it comes to writing. He's s...