Posts on the craft of writing
“Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty.” So said British playwright William Archer back in the Edwardian era. A definition that gets to the core of fiction so succinctly, Disney/Pixar’s Andrew Stanton featured it in his TED Talk on story telling.
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Emmy-winning screenwriter, script doctor, and writing coach Glen Gers sums up twenty-five years experience with his six essential questions for writing. Don’t look away; Gers’ rules apply to any writing of fiction, documentary and even non-fiction not just to screenwriting.
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One of the key ingredients of successful novels is the relatability of the characters; it’s why stories need the Everyman, or Everywoman.
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Working through a reverse outline of Book One, I’m breaking down the action of the novel as part of the story edit. The revelation of this exercise is there are more scenes in each chapter than I thought.
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Worry not, no personal woes here; we’re plotting troubles, decisions and consequences in fiction. Another guest lecturer on Sanderson’s BYU Creative Writing course, author Brandon Mull sets out his approach to character and plot.
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In unabashed, media-pimping, YouTube style, I bring you ten ways to improve your writing. Ta-da!
Inspired by a similar non-fiction list from Carl Natale over on workawesome, I’ve taken on a lot of writing craft over the last couple of years, and here’s the cream of it.
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My writers group over on DDW’s Discourse served up a Random Nouns Writers’ Prompt entitled The Jar of Nouns. …
Interviewed at the Hay Literary Festival, Dame Jacqueline Wilson wonders are people losing ‘reading stamina?’
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s This Cultural Life, prolific children’s author Wilson is concerned that children’s books are now too simple. …
Attention spans are getting shorter, reading choice is getting bigger; which is why writers have to include five items on page one
After the book’s cover, page one is where most readers start. Anyone who says you have the first chapter to set out your stall is peddling old advice. Page one has a lot to do if you’re to get the reader to turn over to page two and keep going.
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Sooner or later in the process, every author faces editing the ‘crutch’ words. These are the habitual words or phrases used like crutches to prop up one’s prose. In speech, we rarely notice them; in prose, they become a hallmark of poor writing. Top of the list? Like, seemed, look, decide. And adverbs. Mostly.
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