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Category Archives: Writer’s resource
Breathing life into your words
Where does the spark of a story originate? Walking down the street trimmed with frosted pine swags, hearing the distant hum of a children’s choir and a mother berating her teenage son for wanting to spend Christmas day at the … Continue reading
Playing the writing game
The debate continues between those who have a flash of inspiration that propels them to write and keep writing and those who think about their ideas and outline before they start. For those who prefer the less planned routine, the … Continue reading
In praise of the passive hero
Don’t create a main character who just is passive, watching the other characters without taking charge or getting things done. Also, don’t read books by two of the most famous American authors Herman Melville and F. Scott Fitzgerald because they … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Literary devices, Writer's resource
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Not exactly human
While embarking on a new type of writing, creating alternate world fantasy, I rebelled against copying what I already knew. Instead I insisted on creating my own species and giving them my own names. However creative I attempted to be, … Continue reading
Simmering the main character
Character development is probably the only way to make a protagonist that is someone else than a flat or stock character. However, this takes time and results in a slower pace of writing, like a stew that must simmer for … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Literature, Writer's resource
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Nonlinear, when does it work?
At one point when watching a Benedict Cumberbatch movie, my friend commented that this actor must have the requirement that all of his movies or series be nonlinear. At one moment Cumberbatch would be studiously studying a problem in the … Continue reading
“Crazy” characters
If you want to write fiction involving mentally ill characters in a realistic way, to show how and why they no longer think clearly, you must get to know real people with real psychiatric disorders. There are many places that … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Literature, Mental health
Tagged mental illness, psychotic, Psychoticism
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Reduction of language
Sometimes, I am fearful for the future of writing. We are not exactly converting to “newspeak,” But, there’s a trend of eliminating some words or even parts of speech from usage. I’ve read questions on a writing forum in which … Continue reading
Posted in Education trends, Style and voice, Teaching writing skills, Writer's resource
Tagged grammar, newspeak, writing style
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The nature of an epic
Before “epic” became a name used by companies to suggest their fame, it was a type of poem. A long one describing the exploits of heroes and often involving the rise of a nation. The poetic meter made memorization of … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Literature, Trends in books, Writer's resource
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Traveling towards the novel
Story tellers usually start small. I did this with little sketches referred to as flash fictions, often under 500 words. I won money in contests and published some of these. I began receiving the response, ‘this intrigues me but I … Continue reading
Write about what? 