Writing Lessons I've Learned

by Jean Henry Mead

When I wrote my first novels, I spent an inordinate amount of time rewriting first chapters before progressing to the second, only to rewite them again before I finished the book. I finally learned to write them once and forget them until the first draft was completed.
I’ve never been able to outline a novel because I give my characters free rein. They rarely submit to what I might have planned for them because they seem to have minds of their own, and I don’t want them doing...