Update!

Update for the month of June 2019:

I am busy scribbling, scribbling, scribbling. I have new stories bubbling over the rim. I've got one about an Afghan who gives their American counterpart a laughing disease. I've got another about that roadtrip back home after Thanksgiving and a not-so-nice ghost paying a visit in the car. I've got yet another about a farmer on Mars.

So many stories!

So little time...

Check back in to find out where I place these stories (fingers crossed!), and in the meantime feel free to peruse the archives and take a gander at my nearly a year's worth of blogging on everything from my latest novel, THE VALLEN (currently in querying stage), to my first short story ever published, to my dissections on various novels, writing styles and how-to's for writing here.

J.G.P. MacAdam Online is yours to explore!

Chapter breaks and how I used them in THE VALLEN

From this amazing site showing a variety of past-present photos

Welp, I'm at the halfway point of proofreading THE VALLEN (like p. 185 in my double-spaced manuscript) and I'm pausing to reflect on why I've organized the chapters in the way that I have.

Essentially:

• Odd-numbered chapters: Essa's past
• Even-numbered chapters: Essa's present

What SHOULD my story do?

My story...my story...my story...Dammit! What should my story be doing? Trying to accomplish? Is it one thing or many?

Hmm...

Whether thy masterpiece of a novel, or thy life's story, or thy "Story" on Facebook that exhibits annoying notifications across my (not thy) feed, when we speak of our story—just what the hell are we talking about? What should we be saying? What are we trying to accomplish via telling our story?

Let's get to the bottom of this...