William Kowalski

William Kowalski

William Kowalski is the best-selling, award-winning author of seven novels and seven Rapid Reads (shorter works for beginning adult readers of English). His first novel, EDDIE'S BASTARD, won the 1999 Rosenstein Award, the 2001 Ama-Boeke Prize, and occupied the #5 spot on the Times of London bestseller list. His fifth novel, THE HUNDRED HEARTS, won the 2014 Thomas H. Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. He has been nominated three times for the Ontario Library Association's Golden Oak Award. His books have been translated into fifteen languages. He is also the founder of My Writing Network (https://mywriting.network), an organization dedicated to providing free websites and community support to emerging authors of all types and backgrounds. https://williamkowalski.com/
Middles

Middles

If the first 50 pages can be said to be the beginning of a book, then from page 51 up until about maybe thirty pages from the end can be called the middle.  The middle is the longest part of any book, just like a chess game’s longest part is the mid-game.  This is...

Beginnings

Beginnings

The beginning of a book should immerse us in your world right away.  Don’t be coy about it, and don’t be disingenuous, either.  Tell us what we need to know to make sense of things.  Use plenty of detail.  We want to get a nice feel for the setting, and we want to be...

Beginnings, Middles, and Endings

Beginnings, Middles, and Endings

If you’ve ever taken a class on literary theory, or read any amount of literary criticism, likely you will have heard the term “narrative arc”.  It’s also likely you will have heard a large number of other literary terms as well, but you will find that I don’t concern...

The First Draft, Part of a Cruel Act

The First Draft, Part of a Cruel Act

 The First Draft The first draft is the hardest of all to write.  You’re creating something out of nothing.  You’re pulling ideas from the limitless dimension of your imagination and trying to force them to fit into two-dimensional space--a cruel act akin to murdering...

Genre: An Important Aspect of Storytelling

Genre: An Important Aspect of Storytelling

Before you even begin to decide what your story is about, I recommend you devote some time thinking about another important aspect of storytelling:  genre.  What genre is this story going to be?  Labeling it as such is not intended to take away your options.  Instead,...

On The Need for Outlines

On The Need for Outlines

I have always tried to take advice from people who know more than I do, especially when it comes to writing.  My mentor, Jack Kuniczak, told me long ago that I should always know where a story is going before I’ve gotten too far into it.  For quite some time, I tried...

Part 3: The Art of Storytelling

Part 3: The Art of Storytelling

Humans are animals that run on food, water, and stories. We are obsessed with dieting and nutrition in our culture. If only we paid as much attention to the quality of the stories we took in as we do to our food, especially as children! Someone should invent a phone...

On The So-Called Need For Suffering In Art

On The So-Called Need For Suffering In Art

  I’ve heard it said numerous times by many people that artists must suffer in order to produce great work. I happen to agree--except for those points on which I disagree. Firstly, you should never put yourself in harm’s way just to have something to write about. And,...

Trouble Staying Motivated

Trouble Staying Motivated

Many hopeful writers have told me they’ve gotten a story well under way, but were perplexed to find that they ran out of steam before even hitting the halfway point.  They just couldn’t bring themselves to work on it any longer.  They ask me why this is, as if I am...

On Inspiration and Getting Started

On Inspiration and Getting Started

Meet our new monthly columnist, award-winning author William Kowalski! This article is reprinted with permission from the book: WRITING FOR FIRST-TIME NOVELISTS, Practical Thoughts on the Creative Craft,  by William Kowalski © 2014   INSPIRATION On The Need For A...