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Category Archives: Writer’s resource
Vibrant verbs
Writers can throw around the terms used to describe interesting language – sensory images, unusual syntax, well-developed descriptions, and vibrant verbs. But incorporating these into writing and preserving the flow is a challenge. Recently I worked with some nascent writers trying to … Continue reading
Posted in Style and voice, Teaching writing skills, Writer's resource
Tagged Verb, words to replace said, Writers Resources, Writing
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Superhuman weakness
At one time there was a “story” circulating about a famous producer of modern supernatural fiction movies, and an unknown screen writer. The famous producer says “I have a new idea for a movie.” “What’s the plot?” asks the writer. … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Story structure, Writer's resource
Tagged Characters, M Night Shyamalan, Superman, Supernatural, Vampire
1 Comment
Avoiding flat earths
A few years ago, over the holidays, I stayed at a hotel on a scenic bend in the Riverwalk in San Antonio. It had been build in little over 200 days. How? Concrete cast room units, already decorated, were stacked … Continue reading
Unhuman geography
Science Fiction and Fantasy do not describe the type of plot as much as the setting – a world in which imagination changes some of the rules. It is a world in which coming of age, adventure, mystery, romance, war … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Writer's resource
Tagged Alternate history, Human geography, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Writing
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Sci-fi delineated
I, Robot is a collection of short stories that trace the development of robots until they take over running the world while humans remain blissfully ignorant of this fact. In Perelandra, an earth man is sent to Venus on a … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Writer's resource
Tagged C.S. Lewis, David Mamet, Fantasy, Isaac Asimov, Science fiction, Ursula Le Guin
1 Comment
The problem with no problems
Dystopian novels are much easier to write than those set in a utopia. Typically the main character manages to lift the veil hiding the ugly truth behind the society. For example in H.G. Well’s novella, The Time Machine, an English scientists … Continue reading
Highly desirable?
There is a flood of dystopian novels compared to those that feature utopias because a society without problems has a tendency to be boring. However, if you start reading The Republic by Plato, and you may discover that his ideal … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Writer's resource
Tagged Plato, Socrates, Thomas More, Tommaso Campanella, Utopia
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Too bad to be true
Sir Thomas More, a scholar, lawyer and statesman published a novel in 1516 describing a perfect civilization. According to the book, this too real to be true society existed on an imaginary island that he dubbed Utopia. Of course, More … Continue reading
Glare of the limelight
While watching a recent bone crunching pro-football game on TV, I saw a player dive into a fracas and come up the fumbled football. He took off for his goal, running for the sidelines to avoid being pummel by a … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Writer's resource
Tagged baseball, Bernard Malamud, Football, George Plimpton, H.G. Bissinger, sports novels
1 Comment
The distant lands of home
In grade school I would skim the readers for something intriguing, passing over stories of everyday American life and fun science facts for narratives about other countries. As junior high student I soaked up Jules Verne adventures in distant places … Continue reading
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