Ginny Yttrup

As a novelist, I control my characters and their circumstances. Or at least that's what I tell myself. Sure my characters act up and demand their own way. But ultimately, if I don't like an attitude or a circumstance, I delete and rewrite. Oh...

According to the clock on my Blackberry, I awoke sometime before 3:12 a.m. Shortly thereafter, my brain engaged. I wrestled--physically and emotionally. With covers tangled around my feet and questions tangled around my mind, I finally succumbed to the...

Japanese Tea Garden-Golden Gate Park I love a good metaphor. The use of metaphors, when well written, convey a mood, a message, or an impression that lingers with the reader long after the last page of the novel. In my first novel, Words , I used redwoods...

In the book Jesus, Life Coach by Laurie Beth Jones--Jone's quotes Coach Harriett Salinger: "I think people know what they want. What they need are arms to hold them as they make the discovery." As I pondered those words this morning, I considered...

Novelists are creators. We gather particles of dust and fashion them into characters, settings, and stories. This is what I love most about writing fiction--this ability to create life--albeit a fictitious life. I feel as though through the process I...

After months of research, after reading through piles of books, after writing a story concept for my editor, and after stumbling my way through the first few chapters of my next novel--today, after all that--I feel ready to begin writing. Really writing...