Birthdays: Clement Clarke Moore (1779), Iris Murdoch (1919), Clive Cussler (1931), Hammond Innes (1913), Jacques Derrida (1930), Richard Russo (1949)

Tip: What is your main character’s goal? What does s/he want to accomplish? Who stands in the way of this goal? This is the conflict for your plot.

Thought for the day: “Study authors who write in your genre and who are successful; their writing style, structure, characterization, and plotting. It’s all there. You don’t need to go four years to school for a degree in writing. Ernest Hemingway studied and used the style of Tolstoy. Thomas Wolfe delved into James Joyce. I used Alistair MacLean when I started out, eventually moving into my own writing style which is now copied by other authors.” – Clive Cussler

Jumpstart: Your character is with a friend in a store. The friend steals something and gets away while your hero gets caught. Does he give up his friend? Why or why not?