I almost fell into the trap recently. My protagonist, speaking of his brother, said, “That would be John going off half-cocked, Uncle, not me.” A nice evocative expression for someone who acts without thinking, right? The only problem is, the story is set at the beginning of the 14th century in western Europe. Guns didn’t… Read more »
Revision is my favorite part of the writing process. I’ve often heard writers describe drafting as the “magical” stage, where you can discover new things and let your imagination run wild. It’s true–magic happens while drafting. But magic also happens in revision. Once you’ve written “The End,” you have a chunk of writing to play… Read more »
Our author voices are made up of a combination of modes. The four main ones being dialogue, description, action, and internal thought. Those are the most common modes balancing fictional prose. Too much of any one mode—clumps of description, trains of dialogue, pages of action, and dumps of internal thought—bogs down prose and makes it… Read more »
I have a tendency to over-correct in my editing process. This is especially true when I receive feedback from critique partners, and it’s difficult to get centered enough within myself to know what’s actually working and what isn’t. Even when I’m not receiving critique, I tend to be self-critical and perfectionistic (not sure if that’s… Read more »
I’m a long time fan of Stephen King and his particular way of telling a story. In the mid-80s, shortly after I began working at my local library, I came across the novel Thinner. I picked up the book. As is my habit, I didn’t look at the author’s name; I only read the title… Read more »
Do you know what entices a reader’s brain and what frustrates it? I enjoy learning about how brains work, and as a writer I particularly appreciate Lisa Cron’s book Wired for Story, which uses brain science to explain how to create a satisfying story. I have combined what I’ve learned from Wired for Story with… Read more »
In the last speculations, I introduced you to Kim Hudson’s The Virgin’s Promise, the feminine archetypal structure and promised that I’d analyze two stories in my next column. I decided to explore Ever After, the Cinderella movie starring Drew Barrymore for my first selection. The Virgin’s Promise is a screenwriting tool, first and foremost, and… Read more »
About four years ago, a friend and I were talking about a YA fantasy manuscript I was drafting at the time. This friend, who’s also a writer, was ecstatic to hear I was working on a new story and wanted to learn more. So I asked, “What would you like to know about it?” “Well,”… Read more »
We’ve all experienced it. We finish a story or a draft and we know deep down that something is missing. It’s a good story–but it’s not great. It doesn’t have the pop and sizzle that we’ve achieved in the past or maybe that we’ve witnessed in another writer. But what’s missing? Before you take a… Read more »
I admit it. The last few weeks I have been unfocused and out of it. I’ve avoided my writing for other activities. Maybe it’s the 100 degree weather or just navigating a return from the gratifying wanderlust of vacation, but it’s been all too easy to procrastinate instead of generate new writing or revise the… Read more »
