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Showing posts 71 to 77 labeled Writing in General (77 total)
Mystery Tropes I Wish Would Die (April 4, 2013)
I've always loved reading mysteries. Not only to they offer fun puzzles and a bit of mental exercise, but they're very reassuring. The detective/crime/mystery genre offers a dependable catharsis—no matter what injustices the universe throws at us, the truth will always come out. More »
Organic vs. Inorganic Conflict (February 1, 2013)
For the past few weeks, I've been reading James Scott Bell's Conflict & Suspense on the recommendation of Lynn Viehl, the author of Paperback Writer. It's a short book, but it's jam-packed with advice that makes you stop and think. More »
Guns in Fiction Land (December 29, 2012)
When people are afraid of something, they tend to worship it. They obsess and they fantasize and they focus all of their fears and hopes into that one terrifying object. Let's take the most basic fear shared by everything in the kingdom Animalia: death. More »
Tricky Twists (December 11, 2012)
Over the past week or so, I spent a good chunk of time reading a graphic novel from the '90s called Ghost Hunt. The series consisted of twelve volumes of 100 pages each, or about 1200 pages. It took me 10-12 hours to read it from front to back, skipping all the introductory pages and footnotes explaining Japanese honorifics, customs, mythology, etc. More »
Weeding Through Ideas (December 10, 2012)
Sweetie sometimes tells me that my unfinished story outlines multiply like rabbits. Every other day I come up with new ideas inspired by other books, movies, TV shows, and/or real life. I watch a documentary about a wealthy family ruined by the Great Depression; "Ooh! More »
BS Writing Advice: Cliffhangers! Cliffhangers! Cliffhangers! (November 3, 2012)
A week or so ago, in preparation for Halloween, one of the writing sites I follow posted an article about how to write suspenseful stories. You've got your unexpected twists, your unanswered questions, and of course, our wonderful old friends, cliffhangers! More »
BS Writing Advice: Adverbs Are the Enemy (October 19, 2012)
This post begins another sporadic blogging series which I have affectionately dubbed "BS Writing Advice." I believe the title explains itself. But for the purposes of establishing a mission statement and sticking to it, I will declare that I intend to write about the ubiquitous Pro Tips for writers which are, in my humble opinion, bullshit. More »