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 moreCategory: writing
Filing 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 moreFear is the Mindkiller, Fear is the Liberator
Fear has a powerful ability to cease up the creative mind. Not only in doing our work itself, but what we do with it after it’s finished– or as finished […]
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 […]
Read moreLosing the Passion
Last night PBS aired the BBC Sherlock episode “The Reichenbach Fall”, which is a modernized variant of the original Doyle short story “The Final Problem”. The Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock […]
Read moreAnother Plug of ArmadilloCon Writers’ Workshop
The deadline for submissions for the ArmadilloCon Writers’ Workshop is a month away. High time to plug it again.—The ArmadilloCon Writers’ Workshop has become a major event for aspiring SF/F […]
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 moreNothing In, Nothing Out: I’m Not Reading Enough
Back when I did the DFW Writer’s Conference last year, the keynote speaker said, in part of her keynote speech, “Stephen King reads four hours a day and writes four […]
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