Timothy Hare asked Jeff Wheeler:

Hi, Jeff Wheeler! I have a few questions that I am struggling with in my novel: How do you get through writer's block? What was it like writing your first book? Can you give me some tips? How do you make your protagonist believable? I'm struggling with making the main character realistic, and I would love any tips on it!

Jeff Wheeler Hi Timothy: all of your questions revolve around an important principle. To become good at anything takes a lot of practice. Malcolm Gladwell likens this to 10,000 hours. An author who inspired me said it takes about a million words. I don't know any shortcuts. You learn the craft by doing it. A lot of new writers start with writing novels, but I like to suggest starting with short stories to learn the different skills. As you read books, analyze how the authors figure things out. There are a lot of resources out there to help you learn. Writing craft books (mine is called Your First Million Words...Charlie Holmberg just put one out called Charlie's Book of Magic), writing conferences & classes (Storycon, Inkers Con, Storymakers, Writers Block). There's even a company called AuthorsAI which I'm part of which has a tool called Marlowe that can help you analyze your writing. It's not generative AI, like ChatGPT, so it won't write the novel for you. The practice of writing is what you bring to the table.

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