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The author views that authors must be explorative and spontaneous in the process of creative writing and suggests his approach of writing without intention or plan. He shares his experience of writing his memoir including the problems of fitting his narrative into a structure and his struggle with point of view. He favors rewriting over revisions of drafts to eliminate unimportant sections and to expose insights without being constrained by unachievable plans and predetermined structure.

The author focuses on three of the six most common errors in fiction writing. He states his experience as a teacher and editor in determining these errors. He talks about what he calls "default omniscience" or a failure to properly use point of view in a story. He also talks about failures in effective use of flashbacks. He comments on withholding information and the use of false suspense.

The article presents the author's writing strategies related to author's write in the second person. It mentions the things that should be focused on while writing as spend some time poking around the second-person point of view and also highlights the challenges that faced by writers during second-person point of view writing as immediacy.

The article outlines some of the questions asked by the author to his creative writing students which include the start of the story at very moment, the central conflict of the story, and the story meander. The author suggests going to library and reading the first page or first chapter to identify the point of the story. It also explains the common obstacles to good story chops including happily-ever-after all the time, runaway dialogue, and becoming a revision shark.

The article focuses on the common mistakes committed by unsuccessful writers. It says that many writers tend to ignore minor problems such as small errors in their manuscripts because of their faith that it will not affect the book. It notes that the 7 bad habits of unsuccessful writers include the wrong comma usage, lack of clarity, and vague point of view.

The author discusses the writing process and experience of writing her novel "The Sweetheart." Topics include her realization of a sentence that would inspire the novel's plot, her decision to use of a second-person narrator to tell the novel's story, and the transformation of the story's protagonist, Leonie.