Leon Parenzo

“Woobie” is a funny word I recently discovered when researching for this post. Funnily enough, the concept of “woobie” is nothing new. As a Gen-Xer, we called these people “emo” back in my day *waves cane.* This character is also referred to as the “Piti Anti-Villain.” They don’t want to be evil, but life has […]

Anti-villains are a type of character we haven’t discussed before. I’d almost venture to say that—while most of you have heard the term “anti-hero”—you might be a tad stumped on the term “anti-villain.” *does mental gymnastics* *does them too close to curtains* *sets curtains ablaze* Personally, I love learning about and teaching how to write […]

Pitch your ENTIRE novel, series, whatever in ONE sentence. Yes, it CAN be done. It can be done and it MUST be done, especially for those who want to be PAID to write. If you want to make income from your ideas/writing, you must master the pitch. Why? First, a great log-line (pitch) can help […]

Darkest moment is a term you’ll hear a lot, especially when learning how to plot. Last post, we discussed how critical normal world is for hooking the reading audience early, then never letting go until THE END. Every piece of the “plot” serves a critical function and understanding that function, I feel, makes us better […]

The beginning of any story is, by far, the hardest part. Well, except for that sticky middle pain in the @$$ ACT TWO that goes on FOREVER. Total nightmare not getting stalled there. Then, we need to make sure to knock it out of the park at the END lest readers curse our names for […]

“Real” writers (and critics) know a lot of things, but one thing they know is genre. And whatever genre you’re writing—for the record—it is probably stupid. Last post, I made a joke about what makes us “real writers,” which is a notion that has cracked me up for at least fifteen years. Writing, for some […]

Aspiring writers. There are so many out there. MILLIONS! BILLIONS (if we count bots). I just returned home from the Idaho Writer’s Guild Conference, where there were rooms and rooms full of aspiring writers. Since y’all weren’t there, now it is your turn. I want anyone who refers to themselves as an aspiring writer to […]

Rejection can be so devastating, that the emotional impact registers the same as physical pain. Think about that for a moment. Our brain cannot tell the difference between losing a job and getting hit with a bat. In fact, for those of you out there who’ve ever been fired spectacularly (too)? You might even prefer […]

Ah, Valentine’s Day. Fifteen years ago—before I met my incredible husband—was a really rough time for me in the ways of love. I was in my mid-thirties, always the bridesmaid and never the bride. At least three prior engagements hadn’t “worked out” and my family found it funny to call me “The Runaway Bride” because—to […]

The HERO. We’ve all grown up with heroes real and imagined and, though all “grown up” we still can’t get enough of them. Heroes come in all forms, and we find them all along the continuum from the idealist goody-goody to the brooding/shady anti-hero. Which begs the question. How do we transform our MC (main […]