I was preparing for NaNoWriMo, and the story I wanted to write needed a lot of colorful and memorable characters. This made me think about the importance of memorable characters that stick in the reader’s mind.

What makes a character memorable? If your characters could speak to you, here are ...

We know that character names are an important element in writing characters who stick in the reader's mind. There’s the famous (and true!) story that Margaret Mitchell originally named her “Gone With the Wind” heroine “Pansy”, not quite as memorable as “Scarlett”. But how do I pick memorable, ...

I have this great idea. But that's all it is. Just an idea, not (yet) a story. It needs a beginning, middle, and end to become a story. The mysterious (and intimidating) process of fleshing out the idea into a story — there's the challenge. 

How do I develop a story from just an idea? There a...