The Craft

Writing five novels over the years leaves marks. Not just on the manuscripts — on how you think about story, character, time, and the tools you reach for when the work gets hard.

This is where those marks go.

The Craft is an ongoing series of essays, notes, and behind-the-scenes accounts from the making of the GW Canyon Series — how the Femme Lens developed, what long-form television taught me about structure, where AI fits inside a writer's process and where it doesn't, and what it actually looks like to rebuild a thirty-year-old thriller from the inside out.

No craft lecture. No writing advice. Just one writer's account of what happened in the room.

The Notebook

The 30 Year Gestation

I GPS my memories. I might not recall the day or year, but I remember the place and how it felt. One of my earliest memories is somewhere around age two, in the living room, light streaming in through wide metal venetian blinds. When I think of it now, my jaw shifts and I bite down lightly at the back of my mouth — the same thing I did as a kid, back when I still had baby teeth. I remember where my first wife said, "We're getting divorced." I remember where I met my second an

Don Cohen

3 min read

TV Watch

My college degree was in Mass Communications which makes it unsurprising that I enjoy both movies and television. Before the pandemic, my wife and I would see 50+ films a year in the theater. That’s a lot of popcorn. I’d keep a list and send it to a group of friends with my own ratings. I’m still keeping a list, but differently now. We’ve been living through an era of “Peak TV” which has opened the medium up to some impressive long-form storytelling. With so much to watch I h

Don Cohen

3 min read

Second Thoughts

In Fiery, the second book of the series, I was beginning to have my doubts about GW. A good guy. Loving husband. Solid father. That’s a model I know and the research was easy. GW was created as a serviceable plot device, but that’s like describing furniture. And like furniture, after a while you don’t pay attention to it — to him. In Starfish he helps solve the problem, vanquish the bad guy and gets the girl. Yea! Then what? This was a deep structural problem I wrestled with.

Don Cohen

2 min read

Where Do the Ideas Come From?

Where Do the Ideas Come From? It's different for everyone. As I've worked through my own writing journey, I've started asking other writers how they plan their books. Some are precise — a full synopsis, then character sketches. I think of it like designing a home (see The Dream House Book): you lay out the floor plan first, then decide on finish and decor. Others work from a rough outline. Some pin index cards to a wall. I start with a sentence, and maybe a name — something t

Don Cohen

2 min read

Ask the Characters

On this virtual book tour, the key characters in GW Canyon’s world answer four questions. GW Last thing that made you laugh out loud: Davey texted me a photo of a trout he'd caught on a fly I tied. The caption said "Better than yours." It wasn't. A movie I could watch every year: Local Hero. The guy goes to disrupt a small Scottish town and the town quietly dismantles him instead. I relate to the town. What I do when I can't sleep: Walk. Surf aviation sites. Think about the p

Don Cohen

3 min read

AI and Me

To understand my approach to AI, you need to know a little about my history. My first home office in 1973 while still in college. Owning an IBM Selectric typewriter was a big deal. In 1979, four years out of college, I'd turned a freelance photography and writing income into a recognizable business — corporate presentation slide shows. I wrote the scripts, took the pictures, assembled the audio track, and synchronized the slide projectors with a tape deck. Ten years later it

Don Cohen

4 min read