Basically, I’m experiencing three different kinds of Stuck with the three main stories I’m working on.—E. Beck Summary of Stuckness: Stuck because you don’t want to work on this story right now. Stuck because there’s a major time jump/transition to get over. Stuck because you are unsure
Read more →Basically, I’m experiencing three different kinds of Stuck with the three main stories I’m working on.—E. Beck Summarizing the three types you described in last week’s comments: Stuck because you don’t want to work on this story right now. Stuck because there’s a major time jump/transition to
Read more →Back when I still had a day job, I was a financial analyst. It is therefore really unsurprising that I enjoy looking at writing systems that are very structured and involve analyzing stories to pick out what works or doesn’t work. There are, however, a couple of
Read more →It feels as if I just did this yesterday, but my calendar says it is time for another open mic!
Read more →Probably the second most common question established writers get is “How do you find time to write?” If the writer is known to be a full-time writer, it’s usually phrased as “When you had a day job, how did you…” but it’s still the same question. These
Read more →There’s a lot of emphasis these days on prewriting—that is, all the stuff you need to do before you sit down and actually start Chapter One. It is a comforting thing for many writers, because it gives people a plausible method to follow. Do this, decide that,
Read more →One of the things that is important to a good many readers is getting a sense of place—that is, what the characters’ surroundings look and feel like. Back in the early days of the novel, that meant a lot of books going into five or ten pages
Read more →Time is a tricky thing, especially in writing. Even in real life, time seems to move more slowly for someone who is bored, but flicks past in an eyeblink if someone is absorbed or fascinated. This can leave writers in a bit of a pickle—they want the
Read more →I have been listening to people talk about unreliable narrators for a long time, and it seems to me that the definition has broadened over the years. Back when I was still taking English classes, an unreliable narrator was one you couldn’t and shouldn’t trust at all.
Read more →Fairy tale retellings are a perennially popular both among readers and among writers. Since I’ve written a couple, I occasionally get questions or comments about writing them. The most common one comes from people who ask “How do you do that?” in a rather awestruck tone. I
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