In any long term creative endeavor, there is a limit to how much you can really plan out ahead of time. Of course, you can always make detailed outlines, but […]
Read moreCategory: outlining
Perils of the Writer: Sequel Grinding
Some more experienced writers have told me that writing the second book is much harder than the first. So far, with Thorn of Dentonhill II (new working title: Elements of […]
Read morePerils of the Writer: Knowing When to Deviate from the Outline
So, earlier this week, the long running series How I Met Your Mother had its final episode. And, despite some excellent moments in there, its ending left me cold, and […]
Read morePerils of the Writer: Slow March to the Inevitable
So, consider this plot structure: two point-of-view threads of characters with no apparent connection, both engaged in their own events… but the tenuous tendrils of those events being connected are […]
Read moreTwelve Part Structure and Pacing
I will probably never stop being an advocate of structure and outlining. For me, it’s the best way to write. But figuring it out, working the way to make it […]
Read moreThe Dark Side of Outlining
So, I was reading back through what I had written for Way of the Shield, trying to figure out what wasn’t working, and why it wasn’t. I am still most […]
Read morePerils of the Writer: The Slow Process of Getting the Ball Rolling
¡Feliz día de los muertos! We’re now in November, which for some writerly types, means NaNoWriMo, aka Nation Novel Writing Month. If you aren’t in the know, participants pledge to […]
Read moreLoading Up Chekhov’s Armory
“If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not […]
Read moreAvengers and Twelve-Part Structure
I had been thinking about movies and the studio-system’s somewhat slavish devotion to “three act structure”, which more and more I’m seeing as a big problem in modern cinema, and […]
Read moreA Question From My Agent
Last week my agent posted on his blog about “series death“, including this question: What can you as a writer do to hold onto that “core value” of a series? […]
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