The Chopping Blog

Mark your calendar: June 21 to July 4

The emotional draw of a story comes less from explosions and arguments, and more from the interplay between plot and character—from the way a character's inner life is woven into the events they move through.

Gone Girl is a brilliant example of how to handle some tricky elements in the mystery genre.

Before there was a mystery genre, there was mystery. And these are not the same thing.

The only limit to the possibilities of mystery subgenres is your imagination.

Mysteries deal with difficult emotions: violence, fear, betrayal. But they do it in a contained structure.

Mysteries look backward, while thrillers look forward.

Le Guin shaped the YA fantasy genre while never quite belonging to it. She proved that young readers can handle complexity and ambiguity, and that a children’s story can be rich in language and ideas.

Nine writers joined us at Linwood House for a week of writing, workshops, and (of course) Code Names.

Don't make agents cry for all the wrong reasons...

A big congrats to our client Art Maerlender on the publication of his memoir!

Our brains are incredibly powerful tools, but they’re like muscles: they only stay strong when we keep using them.