“Ask Jane” Shorts

You're deep in research for your historical novel when you find it: a real newspaper article so perfect it could have been written for your story. You want to...

You're deep into your mystery when you realize that you never planted the clue you need for this final twist earlier in the book. Now you have to go back and...

You're deep in a scene that asks you to sit with real pain—a character's grief, a loss that cuts close to the bone—and you start to wonder how anyone writes...

Every writer has felt the dread of the blank page. You sit down ready to work, and the well is empty—no spark, no scene, nothing worth chasing. So where do...

Every plotter knows the temptation. The outline keeps growing—another subplot beat, another note, another contingency—and the actual writing never starts. So...

You've built a surprise into your story, the kind you hope readers won't see coming. But is it a twist or a reversal? Plenty of writers use the two words as...

You're typing along, in the zone, and then you realize you're not steering anymore. Your character is. When characters take over your story, it can be a...

You're deep in a scene that needs a detail you don't have—the name of a piece of equipment, the word for a knot, the way a thing actually works—and the...

Every writer reaches the scene where a character has to come apart at the seams, and the words on the page feel thin next to what you know the moment should...