Finally, a Simple Solution to Handling Backstory
Rule of Three “For every three sentences (or in some cases, paragraphs) of backstory, go back to the present scene at least briefly,
Like Father, Like Son – A Short Story (Horror)
I was challenged to write a horror story a month ago, about the things that sadden, disgust, and disturb me. I don’t write horror. It may sound silly, but I hold to the belief that what we think about makes up who we are. I don’t want to ponder the things that break my heart, […]
Using Dream Analysis to Develop Your Fictional Characters
Have you ever been chased by someone in your dreams? Been naked in public? Flown like a bird around a city? Or just felt utterly lost in a maze-like building? There are twelve basic dream patterns that all of us dream, regardless of who we are, what we do or where we live. An in-depth […]
Revise Your Novel in One Month with PlotWriMo
The amount of time, heartache, frustration, and hell that these videos are saving me from is immeasurable
Boiling Down Story – Creating a Pitch
As a competing mentee in this year’s Pitch Wars, I’ve been working on formulating a pitch. It would seem that, having dreamed up, outlined, and written an entire novel (and I won’t even go into the number of revisions I’ve done) that I should be able to write a sentence or two about what the novel […]
Is a Writer’s Retreat for you?
When was the last time you walked through a meadow? Not a cut-lawn city park expanse, or your own back yard just before mowing, but an honest-to-goodness meadow? Last weekend I attended an intimate writer’s retreat at Prue’s House at Hilltop Park on Bainbridge Island, WA, led by author Margaret Nevinski. The drive up wound […]
Clothes The Door: a Short Story
And I can’t begin to fathom the breadth of income necessary to earn the audacity of designating oneself a philosopher in this century, but I’m pretty sure we aren’t shopping in the same stores.
Character Outline: Portraying Realistic Teenager Fears
Here are Jude Bijou’s seven highly effective techniques to help writers identify fear-causing triggers for students and aggravate those fears to cause serious anxiety before the final act–and how to help your protagonist let go of those fears, and arc into a realized theme goal.
How to Use an Unreliable Narrator in Your Story
In general, even people who commit the worst crimes do not go around thinking of themselves as monsters; they justify their actions to themselves. In Lolita, Vladimir Nabakov signals Humbert Humbert’s unreliability to the reader in a number of ways such as his outrageous claims, his endless justifications for shocking acts and his contempt for others.
POV shift: I moved to an island.
A month ago, my family moved from Orange County’s endless summer to a small(ish) island off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. It’s the beginning of summer, and the weather has been sunny and warm, so climate-wise, not much of a shift. But that’s only the climate. Every other aspect of our lives has changed; (one […]
