So, motivation. Why is your character taking the MacGuffin to the MacGuffin Disposal system? Why is his plucky sidekick along for the ride? What is the love interest pursuing that puts her (or him, if the protagonist is, say, a female auto mechanic) on the same path as our intrepid hero? The answer to these… Continue Reading »
Blog
Apologies
Sorry for the lack of posts the last couple of weeks, I’ve been quite sick and busy. Should be back posting this weekend.
Research
Research is an essential part of writing. You may be writing fantasy set in the land of never never was, but unless you’re explicitly turning off the laws of physics and not drawing on any of humanity’s stunningly rich mythological background, you risk flubbing something dramatically that will break reader’s suspension of disbelief – and… Continue Reading »
Ideas
I don’t get asked very often where my ideas come from – but that’s probably mostly because I don’t talk much about my writing. It is one of those stereotypical questions, however, and lacking in other ideas this week I will speak to it a little bit. I am an informationophile – I love to… Continue Reading »
Identifying Themes
So I’m sure everyone reading this has had an English class where they were instructed to find the themes in some grand piece of literature. I’m also sure most of us rolled our eyes and went about BSing the paper as best as we could. Outside of actual literature writers, most authors aren’t actually trying… Continue Reading »
The 25,000 word death zone
I have been writing for most of my life – all of my adult life and some before that. As I’ve said earlier, I’ve finished five novels. I have two I regard as active works in progress. But a quick and dirty survey of my folders found me nine major projects, six of which were… Continue Reading »