The Chopping Blog

Voice isn’t just about verbal tics, slang, or quirks—it's the essence of how a character sees and interprets the world.

Your protagonist's strengths and the fallacies that shape their internal journey combine to create a character who is complex, dynamic, and capable of true transformation.

As two characters push and pull against each other, readers get to see them both more clearly.

To create characters that readers truly care about, it’s essential to understand what drives them.

Character backstory is more than just a list of childhood experiences or milestones; it's the emotional and psychological foundation for who they are today.

"Each day at four the room is sticky with marmalade light. Light that goes on bleeding and wringing its hands and finally disappears without having touched anyone."

"The angels with a billion names, moving in a line up the street, did not mind the drizzle in Valladolid, Mexico."

"Something is bothering Grandfather."

A big congratulations to our client Gary Feinstein on the release of his new novel. UNDER THE FAMILY TREE is a young-adult mashup of a touching family drama with a murder mystery.

The episodic structure of The Call of the Wild is a feature common in coming-of-age stories. This approach works when the protagonist has significant room for growth.

One common misstep I see in novel openings, chapter openings, and even new mid-chapter scenes is the tendency to zoom in too tightly, too soon.

Eighty-four days without a catch was also the essence of Hemingway’s professional situation. He hadn’t had a successful book in over a decade. Critics thought he was done.