I still remember sitting in my fifth-grade classroom. My teacher, Mrs. Patterson, asked us to read “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White. She said something that stuck with me: “Each chapter is like a room in a house. You walk through one door, experience what’s inside, and step through another door into the next room.” That […]
I remember sitting in my college dorm, reading Stephen King’s “On Writing.” I said I’d just read one chapter before bed. But three hours later, I’d read half the book. This taught me chapters are key in reading. So, what is a chapter? It’s a division in a book. It makes reading easier. Chapters help […]
I remember sitting at my desk with a 90,000-word draft. It was like confetti on my screen. Every scene felt disconnected. My beta reader, a former Penguin Random House editor, said my chapters needed a rethink. That feedback changed how I saw book organization. I studied authors like Stephen King and Gillian Flynn. I learned […]
In 2018, I saw a woman in Barnes & Noble. She picked up a novel, read a few pages, and put it back. She did this with three more books before finding one she liked. This moment made me realize how crucial the first chapter is. Chapters have a long history. They started around 400 […]
I once spent three full weeks writing what I thought was a brilliant opening chapter of the book. It had gorgeous descriptions, witty dialogue, and a scene I was genuinely proud of. I sent it to my writing group, and my friend — a published novelist named Rachel — read it and said five words […]
I stared at a blank screen for forty-five minutes one Tuesday morning. My cursor blinked like a heartbeat I couldn’t quiet. I had a true story worth telling — a story about a family who survived a wildfire in Northern California — but I couldn’t figure out where to start. So I did the only […]
I was stuck at my desk, staring at a mess of papers. I had spent six months gathering research. I had recorded dozens of interviews. Yet, I couldn’t start writing. Journalist Sonia Faleiro faced a similar challenge. She worked with 3,000 pages of documents and hundreds of interview hours. Her secret? She wrote her way […]
I found a used copy of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood in a Portland bookstore. I was looking for a novel. But it changed how I read forever. Nonfiction writings have changed my view of the world more than fiction. Memoirs and true crime stories are heavy with real-life experiences. They have a weight fiction […]
In 2018, I was at Barnes & Noble, reading “The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson. A stranger saw my book and said, “Oh, that’s nonfiction? I only read novels.” This moment stuck with me for years. It made me see how many readers ignore true stories. This encounter made me start “The […]
I stared at a blank screen for three hours when I started my first novel. My coffee went cold. My cat lost interest. I typed one sentence, deleted it, and typed it again. That was ten years ago. Writing a novel is different from short stories or essays. It takes more time, emotional depth, and […]
