"The Synopsis is Your Compass" 
Writer’s Digest

While many think of the synopsis as a publishing tool, author Mindy Friddle shares how it can be used in the revision process. Writing the first draft of a novel is often about trying out audacious ideas, following tangents, experimenting, and digressing—without editing or judging.

"The Novelist’s Journal" 
Necessary Fiction

When I begin writing a novel, I start a journal to document the arc of the novel’s creation. My journals run parallel with the novels, from the first glimmer of an idea, through baggy drafts and bouts of discouragement, until the last page of a polished revision.

"On Using Intertextuality in Fiction" 
Write More, Be Less Careful

How novelist Mindy Friddle uses intertextuality to deepen her characters' backstory: newspaper articles, text messages, NextDoor posts and more as a gateway to narrative.

"The Rise and Fall and Rise of the Poinsett Hotel" 
State of the Heart: South Carolina Writers on the Places They Love, Vol. 3 (USC Press)

Before it was rescued and transformed into the resplendent site it is today, the Poinsett Hotel nearly perished.  “The jewel of downtown Greenville” survived the Great Depression, bankruptcy, urban blight of the 1970s and 1980s, mattress-burning vagrants, rot and mildew—and as rumor has it—devil worshipers.

"Life Lessons from Otto"
Literary Dogs & Their South Carolina Writers (Hub City Press)

His plumed tail is plumped, his ears at attention, and, as we head to the park, he leads with the brisk, no-nonsense stride of a hedge fund manager.

“An Old Synagogue Needs Rescuing” (PDF)
TOWN Magazine

The mikvah had been fashioned into a makeshift baptismal pool with a system of rigged heating coils that was downright dangerous. “It was a wonder no one had been electrocuted,” he said.

"Fiction Addiction’s Book Your Lunch"
My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop (Black Dog & Leventhal)

I had the honor of being a featured author for Book Your Lunch. I looked out onto a roomful of people–and I wasn’t even related to most of them.

"Finding Home"

The place managed to look both defiant and melancholy, fending off the sprawl and faceless development, holding the modern world at bay. It was for sale, but there were clearly no takers.

"Southern View: A Sense of Place"

Familiar landmarks have a way of appearing in my fiction—a little warped. 

"Here, Now: Greenville’s Wild Side"

I love that nature is squeezing through the fist of concrete and condos.