Five Things About Writing - Part 2

I wrote my first short story at age 13. The title of the work was Fool’s Gold, and it was about a grizzly prospector and his companion mule roaming the land trying to find gold. It was full of head rattling because I changed viewpoint multiple times, and even included the mule's perspective! The story also committed a common beginner’s writing mistake by resolving the conflict through unpredictable coincidence. That first experience greatly influenced me to write the entire Patch Town novel from one single viewpoint and to make sure conflict is always resolved logically.

Robert Parlante

February 2015