It’s All in the Edit
I appreciate what people mean when they say ‘it’s all in the edit.’ Of the three book series, Book One is in serious need of editing.
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Writing
Posts on the craft of writing
Free Flow: Get Up and Create
If you’re stifled at the keyboard unable to find your free flow: get up and create.
It’s a common thing with authors and other creative types. You want to create but the creativity won’t flow.
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The Role of Speculative Fiction
With wide appeal and a long history, just what is the role of speculative fiction?
To use a definition from Masterclass:
Speculative fiction is a literary ‘super genre,’ …with speculative elements that are based on conjecture and do not exist in the real world.
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Sanderson’s Three P’s of Plot
From his Free Writing Course online, we bring you Brandon Sanderson’s Three P’s of Plot. Fine advice for the budding author…
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Changing Point of View
When I accepted the fantasy novel challenge, I didn’t bargain on changing point of view at the end of drafting Book One. To make the effort worth while, this has to be a series, but who is at the centre?
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Scene Structure in Fiction
What is scene structure in fiction? It’s exactly the same as the structure for the chapter and for the whole story. Scenes are the building blocks of story; you can treat each scene as a short story in itself. But it has to have a satisfying structure in order to keep the reader turning the page.
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Murphy’s Twenty-four Chapter Structure
Four books in progress and the main crutch is Derek Murphy’s twenty-four chapter structure holding them all together. Without structure, novels are just so many words. Structure is vital. But is has to be the right structure.
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Three Acts or Four?
Most movies, TV shows and plays break down into the classic three-act structure. There’s a debate about books, however; should you plot using three acts or four?
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MICE, Fractals and Budgets
Following Mary Robinette Kowal’s guest lecture for Sanderson’s 2020 course, we started looking at Word Budgets. Let’s go further with MICE, fractals and budgets.
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History, Historical Fiction and Fantasy: What Gives?
If history is stuff that happened, and fantasy is stuff somebody made up, then what’s historical fiction? History, historical fiction and fantasy: what gives?
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