In fiction, capturing internal conflict is key to creating vibrant and believable characters.

In fiction, capturing internal conflict is key to creating vibrant and believable characters.
I learned the backbone of American language from my mother, aka the Queen of Cliché. While most parents charge their offspring to “Be home by eleven o’clock sharp,” my mother quipped, “If you’re not early you’re late.”
To improve our writing skill, however, we need to invest in it. There are multiple ways in which to do this.
I got an email from a new acquaintance. She’d given me her address this past summer and I wrote a note just to say hi. In my email, I told her that I write, and gave the address to one of my blogs. FYI – my blogging days are over.
I used to make fun of mystery novel climax scenes, where the killer has the sleuth trapped and, instead of shooting him and escaping, the bad guy explains the reasons for the murder, giving the sleuth time to capture him. This is clearly a device to inform readers rather than realistic bad guy behaviour. But when I wrote my first mystery novel, A Deadly Fall, I understood the value of this literary trope.