Tag: Moldeth City

Craft & Voice

Bad Guys Have Reasons: Writing Villains Who Aren't Cardboard

The worst thing you can do to a villain is make him evil. How to write bad guys with reasons — and why the real villain is the system.

Craft & Voice / Inside Moldeth City

Gravy, Not Sauce: Why the Small Stuff Carries the Whole Book

Call it "sauce" and the reader who knows closes the book. Why the small, specific stuff carries the whole novel.

Craft & Voice

The Mob Movies Lied to You

No speeches. No guns waved over dinner. What the mob movies sold you was opera. Here's the uglier, quieter truth.

Craft & Voice

How to Tell the Reader a Guy Is Dangerous Without Saying It

The sentence "he was dangerous" does nothing. Here's how to make a reader believe it — without ever using the word.