Teaser: “Under the Bloodwood Tree”

"I stretch my boughs, reaching toward the turquoise sky. I thrill at the newborn sunlight dodging through the surrounding not-me trees. It warms my bone leaves and bloodwood bark. The smells of sea brine and sweet decay soften the bitter, hot-iron scent of my natural wood oils. "Birds break into song in the not-me trees--the …

The Snowflake Method

Step 1) Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your novel. Something like this: "A rogue physicist travels back in time to kill the apostle Paul." (This is the summary for my first novel, Transgression.) The sentence will serve you forever as a ten-second selling tool. This is the big picture, the analog of …