For some it is harder to write a novel than to row a bathtub across the North Atlantic.

For some it is harder to write a novel than to row a bathtub across the North Atlantic.

Writer's block is real. It happens. Some days you sit down at the old typewriter, put your fingers on the keys, and nothing pops into your head. Blanko. Nada. El nothingissimo. What you do when this happens is what separates you from the one-of-thesedays- I'm-gonna-write-a-book crowd.

To set a forest on fire, you light a match. To set a character on fire, you put him in conflict.

The opposing missions of the various characters create the plot.

It is possible to combine a story line and plot line in the same work. Usually the storylines comes first, serving as a background to the plot line, but not always.

All good plots come from well-orchestrated characters pitted against one another in a conflict of wills.