Author Archives: Shea Robinson

“There is in each of us an upwelling spring of life, energy, love, whatever you like to call it. If a course is not cut for it, it turns the ground around it into a swamp.” -Mark Rutherford “What is upwelling in you?…Stories, articles, poems, songs, and screenplays—to name only a few forms—are reliable containersContinue reading “A Writing Tip to Find your Footing”

Writing effective character development requires that you answer two basic questions:· What does your character care about most in the world? · How can you take it away from her? Most of us go head-first into writing without knowing the answers. And that’s okay. As we discussed in “A Writing Tip on How to WriteContinue reading “A Writing Tip to Care about your Characters”

We know the power of a name from Shakespeare. As Juliet says: “’Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in aContinue reading “A Writing Tip to Explore What’s in a Name”

When I first sat down to write Dance With Me, I had no idea what I was doing. I had a short story of about 8-10 pages that I knew I wanted to extend into a full-length novel, and that was it. So I started writing. 100,000 words later, I had my first draft thatContinue reading “A Writing Tip on How to Write a Novel”

My dystopian zombie novel, Camellias and Oats, began from a single line. I was working out of a book of writing exercises* and this one prompted me to write a list of “best first lines.” Here’s some of what I came up with: “If red was the color of love, what color was left behindContinue reading “A Writing Tip to Tell it Backwards”