The beginning and the ending are two halves of the same whole. In some senses, they’re mirror images of one another. The beginning asks a question, and the ending answers it. This is the key. If the ending fails to answer the specific question set out in the beginning, the whole book will fail.

“No conflict, no story” is a rule of fiction familiar to even the noobiest of noob writers. We’re told to pack in the conflict. Make sure there’s conflict on every page. When the story feels slow, just add a little more conflict. Conflict, conflict, conflict—it’s the fiction fix-all.

Writers are masters of excuses. We come up with all sorts of awesome reasons we should do be doing everything but writing. Today, let’s consider some of our most common writing excuses, when they’re true, when they’re not, and how to get past them.

Raise your hand if you love to be bored. If it’s boring in real life, it’s about thirteen times more so in fiction. Scenes in which our characters wander about, puttering, flipping, and poking to no great effect will have your readers smacking their heads—and probably wanting to smack yours.

The writing life is a journey toward perfectionism that will never end – and that is what makes it so rewarding and beautiful.