In the secret space of dreams, where I dreaming lay amazed. When the secrets all are told, and the petals all unfold. Attics of My Life – Grateful Dead As a writer, I dip into my memories, scrounging around for bits and pieces to create my Frankenstein stories – not literally mind you, just that […]
How Reading Affects Writing Read Post »
One of the many problems with my first draft of Shadow of the Black City was the weakness of the desert magic. I hadn’t put enough time into it – and, really, I don’t think I was ready to tackle the issue. I knew this was a problem before I even started revisions, so I’ve
Writing Magic in Fantasy Fiction Read Post »
From Dichotomy Wiki.: A dichotomy is any splitting of a whole into exactly two non-overlapping parts. In other words, it is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets) that are: mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simultaneously to both parts; and, jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the
Writer Identity, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Process Read Post »
I didn’t know what to expect when I began revising the first draft of my first novel, Shadow of the Black City. Right now, I feel like I’ve got even more questions than when I began. Sweet. Truth is, it’s not all bad news. Sure there are page long deletions (alright, pages upon pages, but
The Revisionatrix is a Cruel (and Cool) Mistress. Read Post »
Everyone who writes finds themselves lacking motivation at one time or another, probably more than we’d like. But there is hope. Even though most of us can’t afford to employ Mr. T (even at his advanced age, I’ll bet he can still whip most of our asses) here are some pretty obvious ways to rejuvenate
4 Things to do When Writing Gets You Down Read Post »
Millions of people doing their thing on any part of this earth at any given time have great story ideas swimming in their head (to wit). There is a subset of people who try to get those ideas from their heads onto paper in the form of writing, visual arts or music. Within
The Trick of Writing Read Post »
Earlier today, I posted another snippet from The River Lords, a short story I’ve been working on for several weeks. The metamorphosis of this story has been fascinating–and educational. About a week ago I thought I had a draft I was ready to submit for publication, but something nagged at me. I wasn’t all that
The Learning Continues Read Post »
Every so often I can use a kick in the pants–a little shot of inspiration. I need to know that the masters of writing either struggled like I do or are willing to share what made writing easier for them. Just a little something to which I can cling. John Steinbeck -Convey something from yourself
Encouragement from the Masters Read Post »
The imagery of this post’s title is awful, but I like the meaning. I’ve hared off and slung a whole bunch of words down on my laptop and am close to wrapping up the first draft of my first novel. Part of me thinks I should have studied more about the craft: plot, characterization, setting,
More than One Way to Skin a Cat Read Post »