Get to Know Our Friend Mary Alice Monroe

A Deeper Dive With Our Most Recent Guest

A Conversation with Mary Alice Monroe

A writing tip, book recommendation, and other great insights from Mary Alice that were not covered in our on-air interview, which you can WATCH or LISTEN to now!

For any aspiring writers out there, would you please share a short bit of writing advice?
Whenever I’m asked this question, my GO-TO answer is build your novel toward the climax and resolution. This is THE most impactful moment of the book. At the climax you box your character in a corner and he must make a choice. He can’t weasel out of this one. And his choice is irreversible. Often, the choice is a moral one. In making this choice, he often realizes he has been laboring under false information or opinion. This is soon followed by the moment of AHA! The most emotional moment in the book when the character realizes Now I know what I really want! Deliver the emotion here. If you build toward this moment in the novel, from the inciting incident forward, your reader will feel the impact and the resolution, or denouement, will be a joyous, satisfying ride to the end.

What is the last book you raved about and what did you love about it?
No brown nosing here, but I really loved The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry. She had me at Bluffton, SC and I rode the wave with her to the Lake Country of England.

What can you tell us about your work-in-progress?