Why We Procrastinate and How To Stop

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Many believe those who procrastinate are lazy or unmotivated. It can be true of some, I suppose. Most, however, are caught in a torturous loop that stems from the brain. Once you fall prey to these endless cycles, it’s difficult to claw your way out.

A War Rages Inside the Brain

There are two culprits triggering procrastination.

The prefrontal cortex, responsible for:

  • Planning
  • Decision-Making
  • Abstract Concepts
  • Goals

And the limbic system, which regulates:

  • Pleasure
  • Fear
  • Reward
  • Arousal

Note how the prefrontal cortex’s job centers around self-control and the limbic system’s responsibilities are all emotional based.

When you have a task to complete, your prefrontal cortex sends a signal to your limbic system that says, “C’mon, it’s time to work.” Because your limbic system is like an unruly teen who seeks only pleasure and avoids pain or discomfort, it often returns a signal that says, “Let’s do something else that feels good right now.”

Procrastination is the war between the two, and we’re caught in the middle. Social media and other online activities have only worsened the problem, resulting in more and more procrastination. Devices like iPhones don’t help by trying to guilt you into increasing your screen time. Don’t fall for it. They do not have your best interests in mind.

Though procrastination may feel good in the moment — the limbic system tricking you into believing your actions are justified — that nagging task lingers in the prefrontal cortex, which leads to guilt, anxiety, and stress. Once you start procrastinating, it’s difficult to stop, because the limbic system rewards you with dopamine, the feel-good hormone.

Those stuck in this torturous loop know they should work on that project, but their mind is in turmoil. Add in real-life stressors, and procrastination worsens.

Yes, I speak from experience. After leaving my husband of twenty-seven years, starting a new life in a new area, moving again to another new area, where I bought my home, I had plenty of reasons to justify procrastination. Thankfully, I also took a year-long break from social media, which helped maintain my inner peace.

For those of us who didn’t grow up with the internet, the “noise” can be downright deafening at times. I also had to learn how to do “guy jobs.” Please don’t jump all over me for that comment. I know it’s sexist, but I never mowed a lawn or used a snow blower before. New England’s constant snowstorms and blizzards this year has forced me to use muscles I didn’t know I possessed. 🙂 There’s an art to snow blowing — it’s become another creative outlet for me, only with aches and pain afterward. LOL

The most important thing that saved me from endless procrastination was my longtime belief in mindfulness, the practice and awareness of living in the moment.

How To Cure Procrastination

Step #1: Realize what’s happening in your brain.

I solved that for you today, but feel free to study more about this war inside you. Fascinating research.

Step #2: Practice mindfulness.

An easy way to begin the practice of mindfulness is to walk outside. Stop. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths, the benefits of which we’ve discussed before.

What do you hear? Birdsong? Pinpoint where without opening your eyes. Is there a pattern to his song, or is he communicating with another?

For weeks, I listened to this tiny wood thrush who nests on my covered porch. Amazing little birds that can easily sing over fifty unique songs and can even sing two different melodies at once. I thought he was singing just to sing, until I noticed him stop to listen. Sure enough, another wood thrush sang back.

My breath halted. Since males try to out-sing each other, this must be a singing competition.

I was so invested in rooting for my little porch buddy, nothing else mattered in those precious moments.

What do you smell? The sticky sap of a pine tree? Smoke from a campfire or woodstove? Pinpoint where without opening your eyes.

What do you feel? Focus your awareness on your skin. Is the wind cool against your cheek? Does the sun warm your scalp?

What do you sense? You most certainly are not alone. Wildlife surrounds you, even in the city. Stand in the moment and engage all your senses, except sight. By taking away the ability to see, you must rely on your other senses.

When you’re done, take three steps forward. Start over. There’s one catch — you cannot list anything you already mentioned. This will force you to dig deeper, concentrate harder, your awareness opening like rose petals. Repeat at least three or four times. With each step forward, you’re healing your mind, body, and spirit.

Mindfulness is an important life skill to master.

Besides being a cure for procrastination, mindfulness has many health benefits:

  • Reduces stress
  • Reduces anxiety
  • Fights depression
  • Improves focus and memory
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Boosts immunity
  • Improves sleep
  • Manages chronic pain and illness

Step #3: Work on the project you’ve been avoiding for five minutes. Your limbic system will reward you with a dopamine hit — good job! You did it! If you struggle to continue past five minutes, that’s fine. Stop there. Do this every day. Soon, you’ll be so invested in the project, five minutes will turn into fifteen, thirty, one hour, or more.

Though writers are not immune to procrastination — some say, we’re the poster children for it — it does help to have a regular writing routine. Walking into an office or sliding on headphones sends a silent signal to the brain that it’s time to work, but that doesn’t mean the limbic system won’t respond with, “Let’s play instead.”

The next time you find yourself scrolling on social media instead of completing a task, take a moment to ask yourself why. Are you procrastinating or do you need a break? If it’s the latter, enjoy. Mindless fun is important, too. If it’s the former, put down the phone and walk outside. Please don’t tell me it’s too cold. I’ve been out there in double negative degree temps and survived just fine. Bundle up. It’s worth the effort. What you’ll experience is the cure for what ails you.

If, for health or mobility issues, you are unable to go outside, use the body scan method to practice mindfulness. Lie Lay Recline in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. Deep breathe for a few rounds. Then focus on your feet. Note how your heels touch the surface below them. Do your toes tingle? If you concentrate long enough, you’ll feel blood flowing through your feet.

Next, take note of your ankles. Little by little, work your way up your body. When you reach each organ, envision how it works inside your body. Once you reach your scalp, you may open your eyes.

The body scan method also works for insomnia.

What do you think about this war inside your brain? 

Playing The Writing Game

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by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell

It helps to think of writing as a game.

We all want to make some scratch from our efforts to tell a great story. We all, at one time or another, have a dream of appearing on Today touting our upcoming #1 NYT bestseller. Then we wake up.

Side story: I was once in a Starbucks when Bruce Jenner, the Gold Medal decathlete, came in. I’d been a Decathlon fan as a boy after watching The Bob Mathias Story (starring Bob Mathias himself) on TV. Mathias was the first two-time Gold Medalist in the Decathlon, and one of the greatest athletes we’ve ever produced. So, wiseacre that I am, I sidled up to Bruce and said, “Say, aren’t you Bob Mathias?” To his credit, he cracked up, and we had a nice little conversation, in which I said, “I dreamed of being a Decathlete.” Bruce: “And then you woke up?”

I relate that because part of being a champion in any sport is a matter of two things: natural talent and hard work. I could have worked harder at the Decathlon than anyone in the world, but I just didn’t have the industrial springs in my legs that Jenner and Mathias were born with. My sport was basketball and I worked at it, got to be good enough to play in college, but I didn’t have the hops of a Michael Jordan, though I humbly assert that had I been six inches taller I might have given Larry Bird a run for his money (I could shoot lights out).

So there’s talent and work involved in any successful enterprise. Which is why I often think of this writing gig like my favorite game, backgammon.

This ancient game has been around for 5,000 years, and is brilliantly conceived. Dice are involved, so there’s always an element of chance. A player who is way behind still might win if the dice give him a roll he needs at just the right time. But there’s also strategy, which means you need the ability to think, which is something you’re born with. You can develop the latter through work, which is what education used to be about. (Don’t get me started.)

There’s one other element of backgammon—risk. The “doubling cube” allows a player at any point to double the stakes. The other player may decline and forfeit the game for the original bet (playing for penny stakes is enough, which is a good reason to keep pennies in circulation!). Or he may accept the risk and later, should things change favorably, double back.

So someone who knows how to think strategically, can calculate odds, and take risks at the right time will win more often than the average player who depends mostly on the rolling bones.

Early on I studied the game by reading books. I memorized the best opening moves for each roll. I learned how to think about what’s called the “back game,” what the best “points” are to cover, and when it might pay off to leave a “blot.”

And I played a lot of games with friends and, later, on a computer. I discovered a couple of killer, though risky, opening moves. I use them because they can pay off big time, though when they don’t I find myself behind. But I’m willing to take these early chances because they are not foolhardy and I’m confident enough in my skills that I can still come back.

This, it seems to me, is analogous to the writing life. There is luck involved. I sold my first novel because I happened to be at a convention with an author I had met on a plane. This new acquaintance showed me around the floor, introduced me to people. One of them was a publisher he knew. That publisher just happened to be starting a new publishing house and was looking for material. I pitched him my book and he bought it a few weeks later.

But I was also ready for that moment. I had been studying the craft for several years and was committed to a weekly quota of words. I’d written several screenplays and at least one messy novel before completing the project I had with me at the convention.

Thus, as in backgammon, the greater your skill, the better your chances. The harder you work, the more skill you acquire. The old saw “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity” certainly applies.

There are different talent levels, but that’s not something you have any control over. And someone with less talent who works hard often outperforms the gifted but lazy writer.

Now, that doesn’t mean you’ll always win big in any one game. Far from it. If the dice are not your friends, things might not turn out as planned. That book you thought was a sure winner might not be.

But if you love writing, you don’t stop playing.

And don’t ever worry about the dice. You cannot control them, not even if you shake them hard and shout, “Baby needs a new pair of shoes!” The vagaries of the book market are out of your hands.

Just continue to work, write, play and take some risks. It’s a game, after all.

Comments welcome.

NOTE: This post partially adapted from and brought to you by How to Make a Living as a Writer and The Mental Game of Writing.

Mistakes Were Made

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So let’s beat on this dead horse some more.

Many faithful readers here on Killzone Blog know my opinion of passive sentences, and just as nauseating, adverbs, but there are thousands of would-be writers out there who haven’t read anything we’ve discussed on this site.

To them, and others, please read Stephen King’s excellent book, On Writing, and David Morrell’s Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing. Full disclosure, I get nothing from the sales of these books, but it was these two volumes that taught me more than I ever imagined about the art of writing fiction.

Finding passive sentences in a novel, yours or someone else’s work, is nothing new. I have thousands of volumes in my home, in hardback, trade paperback, and the now stupidly abandoned defunct format, mass market paperback. Many of the books on my shelves are first editions by authors I enjoyed and admired through the years, but that has no bearing on the sins these mainstream writers committed through the years.

For example, at one period in my life, I loved science fiction, fantasy, and sword and sorcery. At an antique store not too long ago, I picked up a 1999 first edition volume of a familiar old sci-fi series and looked forward to settling into my chair for a frosty winter afternoon of reading.

The first page furrowed my brow. Was this the same guy? I checked his photo and byline. Yep. It was him, so I read on (to page 2) until coming to his passage where the protagonist and his girlfriend escape from a high-security area with stolen crypto-currency.

“The engine roared forcefully, the air rushed by swiftly, and we held hands compassionately as our transport of delight soared skyward.”

This ly-ing, tail-wagging pack of adverbs made my stomach roll.

If I’d been reading this as a judge, this backsliding famous and influential author would have been on the naughty list in a flash.

But the dialogue is even worse.

“Robot policemen!” I chortled. “Therefore, we don’t have to hold back and spare their lives. Because they have no lives! To the junkyard with the lot!”

Please take a moment to absorb that short paragraph.

I wept.

Let’s continue.

(The narrator continues)

We were vastly outnumbered and outgunned.

“And running out of ammo,” Angelina said, echoing my own thoughts.”

In this case, the protagonist hadn’t offered his internal thoughts. This was a statement of fact, and the unnatural, clunky dialogue in both examples is stilted and unrealistic.

My literary senses are tuned to a high level these days, because I’m judging a nation-wide contest. Some of the entries are brilliant, and my list of winners will reflect the authors’ writing skills.

However, more than half are weasel-filled, adverb-laden passive sentences that were probably inspired by watching too much HGTV.

“The outdated kitchen was completely gutted, and an open-concept layout was created to maximize space. At the same time, the walls were painted a bright white to add light, and the old carpet was ripped up to reveal original hardwood floors.”

I’m wondering if some of those who submitted novels learned their writing skills from those scripted “reality shows.”

In one novel I threw against the wall, “Jack introduced them and greetings were exchanged.”

I wonder why the editor didn’t suggest a re-write of that sentence. Sparkling dialogue provides necessary information about characters and the two (as yet) unidentified walk-ons might provide much needed tension at some point, or maybe that they became immediate friends.

Of course, we don’t need, “Hello,” he said.

She replied, “Good morning.”

But “greetings were exchanged,” is lazy writing.

Five pages later in this same submission, “Ellen watched Davy stride determinedly to the hen house with the basket in hand. When he entered the hen house, she went into the kitchen and began the ingredients for chocolate cake.”

She began the ingredients.

Let’s pause here so you can absorb this scene and write it a different way.

To wrap this discussion, here’s a brief list from the first fifty pages that put this novel into the junk pile.

“James amazingly didn’t object.” (I hate the word amazing, and even more so if it becomes an adverb)

“The headlights bounced erratically as it (not they) slowly traversed the rough course. I expected it (them?) to keep coming our present location, but it stopped at the old site. The headlights were dimmed and the engine killed.”

By whom?

And the kicker for me was the following sentence in a novel set around 1910 in rural Idaho. “The sheriff read him his rights.”

This lack of research did it for me. Back then, no one was Mirandized. “You’re under arrest,” was probably the closest the western or rural accused would come to hearing their rights.

I admit, I’m not without fault when it comes to adverbs and passive sentences. They crop up in my works all the time, and it’s shocking when I find these nauseating weasels in something I’ve written and edited half a dozen times.

We can all do better. I know, because I’ve been the victim of memory lapse before when it came to researching certain rifle calibers. We’ve all experienced that problem, and readers always point them out, along with a reference to our intelligence or maternal history.

Now, another book I had to chunk was full of head-hopping scenes without any kind of transition, but that’s a subject for another time.

The truth is, mistakes were made. Try not to let that happen to you.

Reader Friday: Social Media

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Social media started off so innocently, as a way to connect with friends and family and like-minded individuals. There was Friendster, then Myspace, then Facebook (which now has over 3 billion users). Along came Twitter (now X, with about 600 million monthly active users). There’s Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok. There’s even a YouTube-Twitter-Facebook spinoff exclusively for politicians called YouTwitFace.

What is your view of social media today? Do you use it, avoid it, or something in between?

True Crime Thursday – Case of Missing Cemetery Records Solved…Sort Of

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by Debbie Burke

Last October, I wrote about a strange case in my hometown of Kalispell, Montana. Burial records of the historic Conrad Cemetery went missing.

For decades, Jim Korn, now 92, had been the sextant, caretaker, and groundskeeper for the historic cemetery and lived in a cottage on the property. He kept meticulous handwritten records, all stored in the cottage.

Documentation was almost entirely physical: thick volumes, index cards, and boxes of paper records. They included information about who was buried where, sale deed records of sites, and which sites were still available for purchase. Jim was trusted, respected, and beloved by many in the community.

Last year, when Jim began having medical problems, the cemetery board hired his son Kevin to help until a replacement could be found. Kevin was also supposed to help computerize the paper records.

Problems arose, causing the board to question operations.

Then last June, Jim and Kevin disappeared, along with volumes of burial records and several computers. The missing documents included the original deed book from 1903 when Alicia Conrad established the 104-acre site as burial grounds.

For six months, the cemetery couldn’t conduct normal business. Missing deeds for gravesites left families unable to bury loved ones. The cemetery association filed criminal and civil charges against Jim and Kevin Korn for theft and loss of revenue.

Further, the community was concerned about the unexplained disappearance of an elderly man in poor health.

At the time of my post last October, there were no leads.

New information surfaced in November, thanks to a concerned granddaughter and an old friend of Jim’s.

Michaela Preece is Jim Korn’s granddaughter and Kevin’s daughter. She lives outside Salt Lake City but spent much of her youth in Kalispell. Growing up, she had a close relationship with her grandfather.

She knew of Jim’s medical problems and that he came to Salt Lake from time to time for treatment. According to a November 30, 2025 article in the Daily Inter Lake newspaper, Michaela said:

“Knowing that he was sick, I’ve been trying to keep in touch with him every week or so, but depending on when I could get a hold of him, I kind of never knew where (Kevin and Jim) were.”

From the same article:

“Grandpa admitted to me that sometimes they sleep in rest stops or parking lots,” she said. “I had no idea about anything going on in Kalispell.”

Since then, the two bounced between staying with family in Boise, Idaho and Utah for medical visits. Jim’s long stints away from Kalispell concerned Preece.

“My grandpa’s not that way. He didn’t go on long trips and different things like that. He just didn’t,” she said.

When she learned Jim and Kevin had been accused of stealing cemetery property, she became alarmed, saying, “I just knew that I needed to do what I could to help my grandpa by trying to get the cemetery’s property returned. I just want what’s best for my grandpa.”

Michaela contacted family members, trying to determine their whereabouts. That led her to a distant relative in Libby, Montana. She learned Jim and Kevin had visited there in July 2025.

She asked whether the two had left anything at their house.

“They answered in the affirmative and told me I could come get anything at any time,” Preece said.

Meanwhile, a longtime friend of Jim’s named Travis Bruyer was also concerned for the elderly man. Travis is a Kalispell private investigator and retired deputy sheriff who does consulting work for TV and films. Travis explained: “Everyone I ever loved and have buried is in [Conrad Cemetery]. It was just important to be involved.”

Travis found Jim and Kevin at a residence in Boise, Idaho, and attempted to speak with Jim but was denied entrance. He asked Boise police to conduct a welfare check. They reported the Korns were safe.

That still didn’t answer many worrisome questions.

Acting on Michaela’s detective work, on October 20, Travis and the cemetery’s new sextant Jeff Epperly picked up the missing records from the relative’s home in Libby. Epperly stated: “[The documents] filled in the entire back end of an SUV, all the way up to the top.”

Deer graze at future gravesites at Conrad Cemetery, Kalispell, Montana

Conrad Cemetery is now able to conduct business and assist families with burials. Epperly is currently digitizing paper records, but the massive amount of information will take time to convert.

With the records returned, the cemetery board dropped the criminal complaint. However, the cemetery went six months without revenue, causing financial loss. The civil case against the Korns is still pending.

From the Inter Lake article:

When asked why the Korns did what they did, [cemetery board member Jeff] Ellingson said it may have been a reaction to feeling wronged by the cemetery for initiating a succession plan. He referred to written notes left behind among the records that indicated Jim’s outlook on the cemetery had soured.

“I think [Jim] actually thought he was protecting the cemetery by taking the records,” Epperly said. “We’re left to speculate until we’re able to talk it through with him.”

Preece suspected that her father was the driving force behind stealing the documents.

“Having grown up and known Kevin, him being denied that job. I think the ransacking of the office was basically a tantrum,” she said.  

The return of the records solved part of the case, but two questions remain:

  1. Why were they stolen?
  2. Is Jim Korn all right?

 

San Francisco Schemin’

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San Francisco Schemin’

Terry Odell

Golden Gate Bridge Logo for San Francisco Schemin' the 2026 Left Coast Crime conference

I’m in San Francisco for the annual Left Coast Crime Conference, which officially opens tomorrow. It’s a reader-based event, and sessions are designed to showcase authors and their books rather than focusing on craft. For example, a panel on setting won’t be about how to write effective settings. Rather, it’ll be about where the panelist’s books are set, and elaborated from there.

No agents or editors, no pitches. Just connecting with other authors and readers, and having fun. I’ll be on two panels. The first, The Perils of Small Towns, where I’m a panelist. The second, Romance, Love, Sex, and Crime where I’ll be moderating. (I think I’ve been on a sex-related panel almost every time I’ve attended. I wonder what the program committee thinks of me at this point.)

As a moderator, a panelist, and an audience member, I try to avoid my pet peeves.

The first is reading the panelists’ bios out of the program. Get with it, people. These folks are readers. They can find that information themselves. Instead, I ask my panelists to give me one non-writing fact about themselves, and I present those to the audience. Without naming names. I leave it up to each panelist to decide if they want to confess. (And yes, I do a very brief intro—names and what kind of books they write, series names, a book title if they’ve told me what book they want to feature.

Next peeve: Asking each panelist the same question, going down the table. I’ve been seated at the last position in the past, and the moderator went straight down the line. Every Single Time. By the time my turns came around, I had very little to add. My approach is to ask a question, let the panelist answer, and then encourage the others to add their bits. Discussions always seem more interesting.

Another peeve: questions that blindside the panelists. Those dead air moments are … deadly. I’ve got a list of more questions than I think we’ll have time for, and I send them to my panelists. They won’t know which ones I’ll ask or which ones I’ll direct at them, but at least they’ll be prepared. I also ask each of them to send me a question they want directed at them. My job isn’t to make them look foolish, it’s to make them look good.

And yet another peeve: Moderators who let panelists hog the mic—and panelists who do it. And in that vein, moderators who spend precious panel minutes introducing themselves—and worse. I was on a panel moderated by a big name author (not big enough for caps, but bigger than those of us on the panel) who talked and talked until I finally put myself on her s**t list by suggesting she open the floor for audience questions. (I think there were about 10-15 minutes left, and she’d only asked each of us panelists one question.) She flapped her stack of note papers and said, “I’m not done yet.” Don’t be like her.

Other events at this conference include “Author Speed Dating” where pairs of authors circle the room going from table to table. Each author has a timed two minutes to give their pitch and hand out swag. Interesting to see the different speaking styles. Some read, some recite a memorized pitch, and others seem as though they’re chatting with you.

Another event is the “New Author Breakfast.” Yes, it’s a real breakfast (a buffet, free to attendees) and a good deal considering hotel food prices. After allowing time to eat, each debut author who signed up is allowed a minute to pitch their new book. There are sheets of paper with each participating author’s name so attendees can make notes, which is better than trying to remember.

Another feature offered at this conference is Author-Reader Connections. Authors can host events, ranging from getting together to chat, to drinks at the bar, to sightseeing trips. Hosts set the limit of number of participants, so these are small groups (and they don’t get stuck with a huge bill!)

Plenty of swag at the giveaway tables, and there’s a book exchange table if you want to swap out one of the books in you welcome bag.

They also have author-hosted tables at the awards banquet, where attendees can sign up to sit at a table with a favorite (or new to them) author. The tablescapes and swag can get elaborate.

What about you, TKZers? Any conference panel peeves? Anything that you’ve seen done well?

Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Deadly Ambitions
Peace in Mapleton doesn’t last. Police Chief Gordon Hepler is already juggling a bitter ex-mayoral candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut police department’s funding.
Meanwhile, Angie’s long-delayed diner remodel uncovers an old journal, sparking her curiosity about the girl who wrote it. But as she digs for answers, is she uncovering more than she bargained for?
Now, Gordon must untangle political maneuvering, personal grudges, and hidden agendas before danger closes in on the people he loves most.
Deadly Ambitions delivers small-town intrigue, political tension, and page-turning suspense rooted in both history and today’s ambitions.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

Self-Editing Pop Quiz Redux

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I just looked back at the first post I wrote for The Kill Zone in 2015.

2015??? How can that be???

My debut here came about because one of TKZ’s founding mothers, Kathryn Lilley, invited me to write a guest post about self-editing based on a workshop I presented at a conference.

For years, TKZ had been my favorite writing blog so I was thrilled by the chance but also nervous. At that point, none of my books had been published yet. Every contributor here had waaaaaay more experience and accomplishments than I did. But I’d edited a number of books and knew a little something about that topic. So that’s what I wrote about.

Today I’m dusting off that early post to see if editing has changed in the past decade.

Self-Editing Pop Quiz

This morning, let’s imagine we’re back in school and the teacher announces a pop quiz to test your self-editing skills. Did you do your homework?

1. Scan your WIP and highlight every form of the verb “to be.” How many times per page did you use:
is ​

are​

am ​

was/were​

had been

Tally your score: 

Fewer than 5 per page:​ Excellent

Between 5 and 10 per page: ​Very good, but could use more active verbs

More than 20 per page: ​Work on how to “de-was” with strong, active, specific verbs.

Many years ago, I took a workshop from the late, great Montana mystery author James Crumley. He shared with me how to “de-was” and I’ve never forgotten. This single skill goes a long way to transform your writing into active, muscular prose.

2026 note – De-was-ing still works. Grammar/editing software suggests ways to rewrite in active voice. 

2. Read the first few paragraphs of each new scene or chapter. Can a reader quickly determine:

WHO is present?

WHERE they are?

WHEN is the scene taking place?

If you can answer these questions, you’ve done a good job of orienting your reader immediately in the story world. Give yourself a point each time you effectively set the scene.

2026 note: Yup, this still applies. 

3. Do a global search for what I call “junk” words that add little information and dilute the power of your prose. Score a point every time you delete one of the below “junk” or “stammer” words.

There is (was)

​​it is (was)​

that

​just​

very ​

nearly​

quite​

rather​

sort of

turned to​

started to​

began to​

commenced to

Editor Jessi Rita Hoffman calls the last four examples “stammer verbs” that weaken the verb that follows, i.e. Barbara began to race to escape the zombie.

Stronger version: Barbara raced to escape the zombie.

Stammer verb exception: when an action is interrupted or changed, i.e. Robert started to run, but tripped over the corpse.

2026 note: still applies. 

4. How many of your characters’ names start with the same letter?

Deduct a point if you’ve christened more than two characters with the same first letter, i.e. Michael, Mallory, Millie, Moscowitz, Melendez.

Deduct a point for rhyming or similar-sounding names: Billy, Lily, Julie.

Extra credit: if none of your characters’ names ends with “S,” give yourself a point for avoiding the unnecessary complication of figuring out whether it should be “Miles’s machine gun,” or “Miles’ machine gun.”

2026 note: still applies. 

5. Do you exploit all five senses? Writers most often use sight and hearing, and ignore the other senses that can add texture and richness to the reader’s immersion in the story world.

Give yourself a point each time you employ one of the under-used senses of taste, touch, and smell.

Extra credit: for dramatic effect, deprive your characters of normal sensory input, i.e.

A blindfolded kidnap victim who cannot see where captors are taking her.

An explosion-deafened soldier who cannot hear the enemy stalking him.

2026 note: sensory detail still immerses readers in the story world. 

6. The English language constantly challenges even experienced authors. In the eyes of editors and agents, improper usage of common words marks a writer as an amateur. Choose the correct word for each of the following:

(a) It’s [or] its a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

(b) The bear retreated to its [or] it’s den as winter closed in.

(c) Hurricane Katrina effected [or] affected every home in New Orleans.

(d) The affect [or] effect of Hurricane Katrina continued long after the rains ended.

(e) After the lobotomy, McMurphy possessed a flat affect [or] effect.

(f) The farther [or] further the boat drifted from the shore, the harder Joe paddled.

(g) The further [or] farther you pursue this tangent, the more you lose credibility.

(h) The magician made an allusion [or] illusion to Houdini’s famous “vanishing elephant”illusion [or] allusion.

(i) Robert implied [or] inferred that Janet was a tramp.

(j) Since Janet had been convicted of prostitution, Robert inferred [or] implied she was a tramp.

(k) The witness that [or] who saw the assault ran away.

(l) Winston tastes good like [or] as a cigarette should. (Trick question for those of a certain age.)

Answers at the end. Score 1 for each correct answer.

The Elements of Style by Strunk and White is my go-to reference whenever I’m not sure of correct word usage. I find answers to 98% of my questions in Strunk and White.

2026 note: Word (and other writing programs) now do a better job of catching and flagging these misuses. 

7. Scan an entire chapter. How many times is the first word of a new paragraph the name of your character or a pronoun referring to that character (he or she)?

8+ out of 10 times – Normal for the first draft, but try varying sentence structure to begin paragraphs in different ways.

5 out of 10 times​​ – Better, but still needs work.

2 out of 10 times​ – ​You display good variability in paragraph structure.

2026 note: some writing software flags this problem, as well as makes suggestions how to vary sentence structure. 

8. Point of View—do you stay consistently in the same character’s head for the entire scene? Do you switch point of view only when a scene changes or when a new chapter begins?

How many POV changes can you find in the following passage?

Silky sheets caressed Teresa’s naked skin, as her heartbeat quickened. She watched Zack, framed in the doorway, as he unbuttoned his shirt. Secret fantasies he’d harbored for months were about to come true. Teresa’s heavy-lidded eyes promised a welcome worth waiting for. She quivered inside with trepidation. Would he be disappointed or thrilled? With a sweep of his sinewy arm, Zack whipped back the sheet, stunned to discover Teresa was really Terrance.

Answer: Four. The paragraph starts in Teresa’ POV because she feels the sheets and her heartbeat. Then POV switches to Zack and his secret fantasies, which she might guess, but can’t know about since they’re inside his head. Then back to Teresa, quivering inside. Then back to Zack being stunned.

If you struggle with POV, lock yourself inside the head and body of the POV character. Everything that goes on in that scene must be within the eyesight, earshot, or touch of that character. That means the character might be able to look at his own feet, but he can’t see the broccoli stuck in his teeth. Only another character can do that…and I certainly hope she tells him about it soon!

2026 note: a consistent POV is still important to avoid confusing readers. 

9. Is the action described in chronological order? Does cause lead to effect? Does action trigger reaction? Is the choreography clear to the reader? Who is where doing what to whom?

If you understand the last sentence, give yourself 10 points and deduct 10 points from my score!

How would you rewrite the following confusing sentence?

George slashed Roger’s throat with the knife as he grabbed him from behind after he sneaked into the warehouse.

How about: ​Knife in hand, George sneaked into the warehouse, grabbed Roger from behind, and slashed his throat.

Just as messy, but much clearer to the reader because events unfold in the order they happened.

2026 note: writing events in clear, logical order is still important. I don’t know how well editing software addresses this problem because I do it myself. 

10. Do you read your work out loud? If so, give yourself an automatic 10 points.

When you read out loud, you catch repeated or missing words, awkward phrasing, and sentences that are too long. “Glide” is the term used by author/editor Jim Thomsen to describe smooth, effortless, clear writing. Glide is like riding in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce as opposed to bucking and shuddering in a 1973 Pinto with bad spark plugs and a flat tire.

For extra credit, have someone else read your work out loud. If he or she can read without stumbling, you’ve achieved glide. Award yourself 25 bonus points.

2026 note: reading aloud still works but now many programs read to you. That saves a sore throat. 

Answers to 6 (a) it’s, (b) its, (c) affected, (d) effect, (e) affect, (f) farther, (g) further, (h) allusion, illusion, (i) implied, (j) inferred, (k) who, (l) Despite the catchy slogan from the 1950s, correct use would be as. Back then, liquor couldn’t advertise on TV, but cigarettes could. Now liquor ads are common, but few people even remember commercials for cigarettes. How times change!

How did you do? Tell us in the Comments! 

Fewer errors equal less distractions and a more engaged reader. A more engaged reader equals more sales.

And that equals an A+.

~~~

Revisiting this early post, the same principles apply. The main difference between then and now is that more editing software programs are available to alert the writer to potential problems.

~~~

TKZers: how did you do on the quiz? Please answer in the comments.

Extra credit if you caught my error in the original. In 2015, an alert reader busted me. 

Do you use editing software? Which ones do you prefer? 

~~~

On March 5, I’m teaching a zoom webinar entitled “It’s 10 p.m. Do You Know Where Your Villain Is.” Click this link for more information. 

That topic began as a TKZ post and grew into my book, The Villain’s Journey-How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate. Sales link. 

Why Readers Read

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Girl Reading

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” — George R.R. Martin

* * *

I’ve been wondering lately about what exactly people are looking for when they pick up a book to read. Maybe knowing that would help me understand how to construct a novel that would be especially satisfying to the reader. My search took me to a Pew Research report from 2012 where researchers asked people who had read at least one book in the previous twelve months what they liked about reading. I summarized the main reasons below:

  • 26% enjoyed learning, gaining knowledge, and discovering information.

  • 15% cited escaping reality, becoming immersed in another world, and the enjoyment they got from using their imaginations.

  • 12% liked the entertainment, drama, and suspense of watching a good plot unfold.

  • 12% enjoyed relaxing while reading and having quiet time.

  • 6% liked the variety of topics they could access via reading

  • 4% said they enjoy finding spiritual enrichment

  • 3% said they like being mentally challenged by books.

  • 2% cited the physical properties of books – their feel and smell.

Why Readers Read

A more recent poll from Written Word Media found three top reasons people read books in 2026:

  • To relax (86%)
  • To be entertained (83%)
  • To escape (67%)

Clearly, different people get enjoyment from different aspects of reading, but what exactly causes that enjoyment? I was looking for something a little more specific so I returned to the TKZ post John Gilstrap wrote a few weeks ago about the effect our writing has on readers. Here’s some of what he said:

The emotional connection is what counts. Like musical composition, a story is in its way an immortal piece of its creator’s soul. It lies silently until living person picks it up and interprets the author’s words through the filter of the reader’s own life experiences.

That got me thinking.  How does that emotional connection affect readers of different genres? Can I use that information to improve my own story-telling?

I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted in my search, so I turned to Google’s AI to list why people prefer to read certain genres. (Google’s search provides references for the answers it generates.) Here are some of the things I gleaned from the results:

* * *

Mystery readers enjoy puzzles, suspense, and intellectual stimulation. They want compelling characters in stories that provide a comforting resolution that ensures justice has been served.

Thriller readers like adrenaline-fueled suspense and mental stimulation in fast-paced narratives, high stakes, and relatable yet flawed characters.

Readers of suspense desire an emotionally charged narrative that keeps them on the edge of their seat. They like the building anxiety that ends in a satisfying resolution.

True crime readers want to understand the psychological motivations behind criminal behavior and explore the complexities of the justice system. They like the combination of the thrill of being scared with real-life crime stories.

Fantasy readers seek immersive world-building that provides them with an escape from, or a new perspective on, reality.

Romance readers want a guaranteed happy-ever-after (HEA) or happy-for-now (HFN) ending. They’re looking for an intense emotional journey with relatable characters.

Readers of mixed-genre fiction crave fresh narratives that break the monotony of conventional, single-genre stories. They look for a “best of both worlds” experience—such as intense thrills paired with emotional romance or scientific concepts blended with fantasy.

* * *

These are, admittedly, brief summaries and not in-depth reader profiles, but they do point out that people have distinct expectations from the genre they prefer. Understanding that may help an author target a story that hits the bulls eye for their audience.

As a mystery writer with some romance included in my stories, I like the idea of combining John’s “emotional connection” with the list of specific things AI claims mystery readers crave. I guess that makes me a mixed-genre author. Puzzles, suspense, intellectual stimulation, and a strong emotional connection are the short list of keywords on my whiteboard to keep me focused.

* * *

So TKZers: What genre to you write? What do you think about profiling readers by the genre they read? Do you agree with the descriptions above? Does the psychological profile of readers in your genre help you compose your story?

* * *

 

Only one person believed it was murder. Only one star held the final clue.  And only one woman followed its light to find the killer.

Lacey’s Star – click the image to go to the Amazon detail page.

Writing For Fame

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by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell

O quam cito transit gloria mundi. – Thomas á Kempis (“How quickly the glory of the world passes away.”)

How many people today have heard of Thorne Smith? Or Booth Tarkington? Or Carroll John Daly?

All three were wildly famous in the 1920s. Smith was the author of the popular Topper series of novels about a couple of fun-loving ghosts and their friend, Cosmo Topper. Tarkington won the Pulitzer Prize—twice!—for his novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams. And in the world of pulp writing, Daly was as popular as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

They are mostly forgotten now, which is the fate of the overwhelming number of writers who ever lived.

Which brings me to Arthur Schopenhauer. Read any Schopenhauer lately? I read some Schopenhauer in college, and this is what my face looked like after I tried to understand him:

JSB, age 20 (or Arthur Schopenhauer)

But as I did some research in the library of Project Gutenberg, I came across Schopenhauer’s essay on Fame.

“As a general rule, the longer a man’s fame is likely to last, the later it will be in coming; for all excellent products require time for their development. The fame which lasts to posterity is like an oak, of very slow growth; and that which endures but a little while, like plants which spring up in a year and then die; whilst false fame is like a fungus, shooting up in a night and perishing as soon.”

If you write for fame, you’re writing fungus. Worth remembering.

However, we do want our name to be known as a “brand,” meaning a reliable producer of quality fiction. That’s part of a marketing strategy, which also includes self-promotion. Agent Barb Roos has some good advice on this topic.

The notion of self-promotion tends to send authors running from platform conversations faster than a politician dodging a direct question. We see self-promotion as something only self-involved people who clearly think too highly of themselves would do. Of course, we think ourselves too holy, too busy, or too sophisticated to engage in such activity. After all, we are writers, right?

Her bottom line:

If you don’t talk about yourself and what you write, no one else will.

My follow-up point will make you uncomfortable, but it is a truth you must wrap your mind around if you want to survive and thrive in today’s publishing world. Self-promotion is essential to the success of your product.

The trick is to divorce self-promotion from the desire for fame. Schopenhauer again:

“From the point of view of human happiness, fame is, surely, nothing but a very rare and delicate morsel for the appetite that feeds on pride and vanity—an appetite which, however carefully concealed, exists to an immoderate degree in every man, and is, perhaps strongest of all in those who set their hearts on becoming famous at any cost. Such people generally have to wait some time in uncertainty as to their own value, before the opportunity comes which will put it to the proof and let other people see what they are made of; but until then, they feel as if they were suffering secret injustice.”

The desire to have others recognize you as significant (which is what fame is) inevitably leads to comparisons, envy, disappointment, bitterness. Instead, put that emotional energy into writing the best book you can (you, not the machine), pour your heart into your material, and promote it wisely. Rinse, repeat.

And here’s some unsolicited advice for those public figures who violate the maxim: Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.

“And so people who feel that they possess solid intellectual capacity and a sound judgment, and yet cannot claim the highest mental powers, should not be afraid of laborious study; for by its aid they may work themselves above the great mob of humanity who have the facts constantly before their eyes, and reach those secluded spots which are accessible to learned toil.”

But laziness and click-bait catnip is the currency of “influencers” today. For them, I offer Aesop’s fable “The Mischievous Dog.”

There was once a Dog who used to snap at people and bite them without any provocation, and who was a great nuisance to every one who came to his master’s house. So his master fastened a bell round his neck to warn people of his presence. The Dog was very proud of the bell, and strutted about tinkling it with immense satisfaction. But an old dog came up to him and said, “The fewer airs you give yourself the better, my friend. You don’t think, do you, that your bell was given you as a reward of merit? On the contrary, it is a badge of disgrace.”

Moral: Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.

Comments welcome.

Writing the Old-Fashioned Way: Alternatives to Artificial Intelligence for Writers

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In the past few years Large-Language Models AKA “A.I.” such as ChatGPT have become widespread, and been introduced into all sorts of programs. Recently here at the Kill Zone we’ve had several posts on A.I., including two already this week, one on Wednesday by John Gilstrap and another on Thursday by Patricia Bradley.

Personally I am against using A.I. in my novel brainstorming, writing and for research. I’m concerned about outsourcing my thinking and creativity to a program that is capable of neither. Many of these programs were trained on copyrighted material without the owners permission (including seven of my own books), and there’s also concern about plagiarism. I am also concerned about errors in A.I. search results.

So, for those would rather avoid using such LLMs/Gen A.I. for brainstorming, writing or research, here are a few alternatives.

Brainstorming Without A.I.

You might brainstorm a whole book, or a crucial scene, or plot point. It can be a simple as sitting down and writing out a list of ideas for that plot point, character, or surprise, or breaking out a pack of index cards and jotting down scene ideas, one scene per card.

My Words of Wisdom post from 2023 featured useful advice from three authors on brainstorming which is worth revisiting.

Then there are handy card decks to help with brainstorming, such as Storymatic, the Writers Emergency Pack and the Writing Down the Bones deck.

I first learned about The Storymatic card deck from our very own James Scott Bell, in a 2021 post entitled “How to Write When You’re Not Writing.”

As Jim noted in that post, Their ad line is “Six trillion stories in one little box. Which one will you tell?” It’s a set of 500 cards of two types. One type is a setting or situation, the other is a kind of character. I’ll draw one of each at random and put them together to see what comes up.”

Writers Emergency pack was created by screenwriter John August, and is intended to be used when you stuck while plotting or writing. There are 52 cards—26 idea cards and 26 detail cards which include suggestions on how to move forward. It’s a handy break the block or end the creative drought set of cards.

Writing Down The Bones deck, by Natalie Goldberg, author of the classic Writing Down the Bones, provides sixty prompts to spark your writing.

Brainstorming with another writer or a group of writers can be creative dynamite. Back in 2013, I attended author Kij Johnson’s two-week long writers workshop at the University of Kansas, which focused on brainstorming and creating novel outlines. After returning I decided to form my own brainstorming group and got together with three other writers. There’s nothing quite like brainstorming a novel with a group of fellow writers. Also in 2013, my now-friend and fellow author Susan Kaye Quinn blogged about one way to brainstorm a book, in seven steps, which is both a useful example and a handy method in its own right.

Writing Without A.I.

At this time Apple Pages, Literature and Latte’s Scrivener, and Libre Office do not have A.I.  installed.

Pages comes with all Macs, iPhones and iPads and can import and export Word .doc files.

Scrivener is a program designed for writing various short stories, novels, and screenplays and which is available for both Windows and Mac computers.

Libre Office is an alternative to Open Office. “It’s fully compatible with Microsoft Office (365) and is backed by a non-profit organization, The Document Foundation. LibreOffice includes Writer (word processing), Calc (spreadsheets), Impress (presentations), Draw (vector graphics and flowcharts), Base (databases), and Math (formula editing).”

I’ve used the Writer and Calc modules and find them pretty similar to Word and Excel.

What about Microsoft’s Office? Disabling the included A.I. was a complex process a while ago but now there is a simple and straightforward “one click” method to turn on or off Microsoft’s A.I. named “Copilot” in the various Office apps.

Research Without A.I.

Research can be a very important part of writing your novel. It’s a topic for a future Words of Wisdom post but for today I wanted to include a link to this post by John Gilstrap which gives terrific advice on doing effective research while avoiding falling down endless rabbit holes.

Using A.I. for web searching and research is now popular with many people, including writers. But what if you want to avoid using A.I., because you are concerned about its tendency for making mistakes or even manufacturing results out of thin air? Furthermore, websites are being created by A.I. which can include false information.

I’ll start off by referencing my own (and first TKZ) post from 2022 which provided tips on using the online public library. Your local library or library system often subscribes to a number of databases which you can access online with your library card, databases assembled and curated by human experts. Needless to say, I see this as an excellent and robust alternative to using A.I. for researching a topic.

Also, as John noted in his 2021 post about “research hacks,” Wikipedia is a wonderful resource for research.

Now, when you want to avoid A.I. while searching the internet and are using the Google search engine, this article from Lifehacker provides several options. I tend to use the DuckDuckGo search engine, which has some robust privacy options, perfect for when you need to search for a murder method for your latest mystery or thriller. Turning off A.I. results in DuckDuckGo is straight-forward. It’s also worth noting that there is a full-fledged DuckDuckGo browser available for additional privacy protections.

If you wish to bypass all the AI-generated websites now out there, or want to find posts and articles quickly from a few years ago when using Google, here’s two tips:

First, choose the “Web” option from the list of Google options above the search box. This will automatically turn off the A.I. overview feature.

Second, at the end of your search query, add “Before:[DATE].” Example, “How to write a novel Before:2022.” Note the command “Before” followed by a colon and then the date (no space between the colon and the date).

***

I actually began writing this article a few weeks ago, unaware that two of my fellow TKZ authors would be blogging about A.I. just days before my own post. This goes to show how much A.I. is part of our current zeitgeist, and on so many of minds, including here at TKZ. It’s certainly a topic which many of us feel strongly about. That said, whether you use it or not is a personal choice. Today’s post was about providing some alternatives to three core aspects of fiction writing.

Do you have any additional tips, thoughts, or general advice on “going old-school” when it comes to brainstorming, writing, and/or researching a novel? Please share in comments.