When most writers are asked what moves a story forward, they answer, “The plot.” The story is an accumulation of events, dominoes that clink one after another until the last one falls. In order to facilitate this moving forward of the story, too many beginning writers fall into what I will call the ‘2d Trap’. … Continue reading The 2D Trap
A trope I am seeing in YA recently, and I may be wrong, but from looking at the popular titles on Amazon recently, I’m seeing a trend of stories set in a medieval magical setting. Their stories may be intriguing, and their characters in-depth and fascinating, but the settings are a simple backdrop that has … Continue reading The Setting As A Character
Step 1: Have an idea This unshapely blob of a plot may stew in the back of your mind for months or years before you are ready to put a single word down on paper. But you need a general idea of your plot, characters, and theme before you move on. Step 2. Synopsis Create a synopsis … Continue reading 10 Steps to Published
Art is art is art. Every field offers and lends itself to others. Music and poetry. Painting and comics. Films and books. The last two are essentially identical except in the methods of reception: watched or read, respectively. But the reason that so man books become films is they both tell stories, often using tricks … Continue reading Every Frame A Painting
A 3-minute interview with the author of the Lemony Snicket series, Daniel Handler, in which he details the origin of his pen name, snippets on his writing process, and why mothers often steer their children away from him in public.
Only rare people, and even these individuals on the scarce occasional happenstance, lay themselves bare. Ignorance encourages speaking one’s mind, but even then only when the voiced opinion is guaranteed either vigorous support or ruffled feathers. Gross opinions, populars thoughts, politically correct topics are simple to voice one’s opinion on, but what lingers deep, under … Continue reading On Characters
If you’re anything like me, I love taking trips into other media that illustrate the life of a writer or artist: the day-to-day struggles, the victories, the stumbling blocks. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear easy to make writing exciting enough even for documentaries, at least not ones that are primarily biographies. So it’s not surprising that … Continue reading How Ian Rankin Writes
I’m a firm believer in making small changes, sticking with them, and increasing the intensity as habits form and time goes on. I belief this is the way to buold strength in the gym. It is the way to produce a first draft (by hammering out a set number of pages per day), and it … Continue reading The Productive Routines of Creative Minds
TVTropes.org has this awesome, interactive periodic table set up on their website. The image above is just a static copy, so if you want to see the real thing, go visit their interactive periodic table of storytelling.