Science-fiction writer
First, I’d like to cheer on my fellow writers participating in this year’s A to Z Challenge — wish you guys a LOT OF FUN! I’ll be regularly checking out your blogs. And now to the matter at hand. On the wide planes of the internet, an ideal reader is defined all across the spectrum, [...]
Know what writers are particularly good at? Compromises. Know what makes the difference between mediocre and extraordinary fiction? Compromises. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, about the rush and excitement of the writing community, especially now after NaNo, and about how many compromises writers make that end up dilluting their work and their [...]
Point of view isn’t just a choice of pronoun, it’s a tactical decision in the service of storytelling. The way we tell a story can make or break it, regardless of the marvelous genius of the plot or the unique personality of the characters. Point of view is a weapon, and it can be wielded [...]
There are a great many different types of author blogs out there, some of them absolutely awesome (like John Scalzi’s Whatever, Chuck Wendig’s Terribleminds, Larry Brooks’ Storyfix, Janice Hardy’s The Other Side Of The Story and Jody Hedlund‘s blog, and dozens more) and some of them rather peculiar and all over the place (won’t give examples, I’m sure you [...]
I’ve launched into the revision of my novel, so it’s time I showed you my weapons and merciless strategy. Over the coming few weeks, I’ll post on Mondays about manuscript analysis and revision tactics as I apply them to my own draft. I’ll try to keep them as factual and general as possible, but it’s [...]
We writers work in the emotion delivery business. We’re dealers in the most valuable human possession. This is our game, we lure you in and make you an offer you can’t refuse: “Psst, over here. Want some emotion? I got a real good package here, man, guaranteed high, make you feel stronger and deeper than [...]
My very talented fellow sci-fi writer J.W. Alden reminded me of something important with his latest post: that blogging about your honest interests as they pertain to writing, however wild they may be, is a very good thing. Because it comes from a real and immediate place within you, and the passion translates. And blogging [...]
Told you good things come to patient writers! After an incredible, busy week at the 27th Annual Antioch Writers Workshop, where Les has given a fiction writing seminar for a wide range of writers, he is now back and ready to give us the winner of the Five Sentence Outline contest. He’s also taken the [...]
Last week I attended an online writing class on story beginnings with the awesome Les Edgerton, organized by StoneHouse University, a very successful indie publisher and training center for writers created by Aaron Patterson and K.C. Neal. It was great fun and very instructive, full of straightforward tips, great examples, and interesting tales from Les’s considerable [...]
Every story is about a problem that needs to be solved, and the protagonist is the only one who can do it. That’s basically the definition of plot: the constant struggle of the character(s) to solve an intolerable problem and (re)establish order. But how do you make that problem increasingly difficult and complex enough to [...]
I'm fascinated with the dynamics of the human mind and the mechanics of the universe, so I twist both of them into a twine and make a pretty little bow. Around a plasma cannon!
