“Stand right there and break the wind.” “He was waving his arms and ejaculating at the top of his lungs.” “I have the same problem when my pants get hot.” “What a sweet kitten. So delicious!” “You’re not supposed to spread them that far apart.” “Tie it off with that… Read more“21+ Things Your Characters Should Never Say”
Tag: Character
Getting our ISBNs, asking for great novel recommendations
Received our ISBNs today! And they are lovely little devils. Now I’m going to open a topic for you all, because I’m outlining the Workbooks to go with THE ART & CRAFT OF FICTION, and I’m going to use a lot of examples of character development and plotting from real… Read more“Getting our ISBNs, asking for great novel recommendations”
The Art & Craft of Fiction: Defining a story
I’ve been watching a conversation this past week over on the Literary Lab about stories. As in: what’s the definition? I happened to be working on the section of my book on writing that deals with that very subject at the time. There are a couple of well-known angles on… Read more“<em>The Art & Craft of Fiction:</em> Defining a story”
Developmental Editing
Do you ever wonder exactly what a full Developmental Editing letter looks like? How the conversation starts when you hire an editor to work over your plot with you—to make sure it tells the story you want to tell, in the most gripping possible terms, to keep a reader completely… Read more“Developmental Editing”
Pulp Rag: Mining yourself
There are no new stories, only new perspectives. Has anyone ever told you that?. . . Read the full essay on Pulp Rag.
Pulp Rag: Touching your reader’s core with resonance
Let’s talk resonance. Kathryn brought up a good point in the comments on that last post, Loving in the time of cholera. I was ranting about not introducing a pivotal character too late in your story, and she wanted to know: “When is too late too late?”. . . Read… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Touching your reader’s core with resonance”
Pulp Rag: Sucking your readers in with sympathetic characters
Let’s talk about sympathetic and unsympathetic characters. Unsympathetic characters can be summed up in one word: boring. . . Read the full essay on Pulp Rag.
Linking to Mystery Man On Film
I’m going to institute a new regular feature on this blog called: Linking to. Every week, I’ll find some blog of interest to fiction writers and talk a bit about it for your edification and entertainment. I’m starting with pretty much my all-time favorite writing blog, which isn’t even for… Read more“Linking to Mystery Man On Film”