One thing I’ve noticed in most “future timelines”– be it for books or television or movies– the worldbuilding tends to gloss over the “near” future. This, of course, makes perfect […]
Read moreCategory: process of writing
Recognizing our Blind Spots
Every writer has their blind spots. Weak points in their writing born from their style, their biases, their personal preferences. For me, I know exactly what my big one is: […]
Read moreSitting at the Grown-up Table
Two weeks from tomorrow ArmadilloCon kicks off*, starting with the Writers’ Workshop. I’m really excited. This is my second year on the teachers’ side of things for the Workshop, and […]
Read moreWriting with Clarity: Harder than it looks
The other day I read an article about the difference between “literary” fiction and “commercial” fiction. The main gist of it was how there was a school of thought– from […]
Read moreFiling off the serial numbers
There’s been plenty of conversation about Fifty Shades of Grey, the mega-selling book that had its origins in Twilight fanfic. Now, I’m not going to knock on Fifty Shades here. […]
Read moreHitting Beloved Characters with Rocks
“My job is to chase him up a tree and throw rocks at him.” -J. Michael Straczynski, on writing Amazing Spider-man John Scalzi’s Redshirts came out this week, and I […]
Read moreAdding just a hint of mustard
Seven years ago, when I first participated in the ArmadilloCon Writers’ Workshop (two more weeks until the sign-up deadline!), I brought the first chapter of an early draft of the […]
Read moreEmbracing the Spectacular Failure
‘As if it matters how a man falls down…when the fall is all that’s left, it matters very much.’ – A Lion in Winter, James Golden* Bear with me […]
Read moreDigging into the Iceberg
As much as I talk about Worldbuilding, when it comes to the actual writing of books, I don’t put too much on the surface. Sometimes it’s out of fear of […]
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 […]
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