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”
Tag: Plot
Pulp Rag: Hunting the lonely heart with Carson McCullers
The actual writing is what you live for. —Raymond Chandler Let’s talk about plotting and Point-Of-View. Carson McCullers was only twenty-three when she published The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, her classic story of the fragility of human connection—nearly a child prodigy. Within the amorphous struggle to understand life, as… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Hunting the lonely heart with Carson McCullers”
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”
Linking to the Willesden Herald
No iron can pierce the heart with such force as a period put at just the right place. —Isaac Babel, “Guy de Maupassant” A convincing lie is, in its own way, a tiny, perfect narrative. —William Boyd, “A Short History of the Short Story” This week we’re linking to the… Read more“Linking to the Willesden Herald”
Pulp Rag: Inflicting cause-&-effect upon your reader with Henry James
“I went to confer a favour and you will go to ask one. If they are proud you will be on the right side.” —Henry James as Mrs. Prest, “The Aspern Papers” Henry James was a writer of the first order, with an understanding of character astonishing in its depth,… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Inflicting cause-&-effect upon your reader with Henry James”
Pulp Rag: Crafting an impossible plot with Maria Dermout
“All of us, always, when we’re young, have to hold something for those who are old, and we drop it and want to get away, and draw a ship in the sand to reach a new country, and we always forget the ballast—there is no ballast but the earth of… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Crafting an impossible plot with Maria Dermout”
Pulp Rag: Aiming past ecstasy
The ultimate aim of the quest must be neither release nor ecstasy for oneself, but the wisdom and power to serve others. —Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, via Kathryn Estrada So let’s talk about the quest plot structure. Because writing itself is a quest, and if you don’t know… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Aiming past ecstasy”
Pulp Rag: Planting a suspicion, revealing a glory
A week or so ago I posted an essay on hook-development-climax that was almost entirely quotes from great works. I quoted hooks. And I quoted climaxes. I would have quoted development, but my fingers got tired. I wanted you to see exactly what constitutes a hook (why it’s short!) and… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Planting a suspicion, revealing a glory”
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: Hooking, developing, climaxing
I’ve got my statues against the sky. —Virginia Woolf, A Writer’s Diary I’ve got a confession to make. When I wrote the last post, I was trying to write a basic review of plotting. I don’t know what happened. It was Friday. . . Read the full essay on Pulp… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Hooking, developing, climaxing”