Category: character
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My Fiction Writing Toolkit
When I write, I motivate myself by reviewing some of my Fiction Writing Tools. For some reason they get me going. Below are articles from this blog that are sure to motivate you: Character Character Workshop Temptations to Avoid Conflict Conflict Workshop Description Describe an Object Ten Ways Dialogue Subtext Plot Hero’s Journey Three Act…
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Hello Darkness
Writing a scene in which I dragged out a villainous character from an unused rough draft of a novel–one I wrote seven years ago. Hello my wicked friend. Do your stuff. View my Consortium SF Series at Amazon.
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Temptations to avoid when writing characters
I’ve had a great time getting to know the characters in my SF novel. A plethora of minor characters run around in my story, but I have three main ones: Bandonn FarPacer-Technology genius; while growing up, forced to fight a war on his home planet; escaped the war, and wants to be an agent for the…
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Fiction Writing Workshop: Action Scenes
He extends his sword and then utters these words: “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.” The most memorable part of this fight scene are these words. But why? To find the answer, I wanted to know more about writing effective fight and action scenes. My novel has several of…
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Books on writing I read in 2015
Every year I try and read a couple of books on the writing craft. I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but, honestly, I love reading stuff on how to write fiction. Here is what I read in 2015: Planning a Novel, Script or Memoir by Hank Quense Quense offers practical tips on how…
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Whoa, an epiphany in writing dialogue
In one of my favorite books on graphic design, The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Robin Williams presents the concept of being able to name something so that you can own it. A person may recognize good design in a poster or a brochure, but not be able to know why it’s good design. In her book,…
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What I’m learning as I write my novel, part 2
In my previous blog entry, I began listing some things I’m learning as I write my current novel. Here are some more: Let the story unfold like a snowflake. When writing the discovery draft of a novel, I like to use the snowflake method. This is a method created by writer Randy Ingermanson. I mentioned…
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What I’m learning as I write my novel
When I say I’ve written six novels, this is what I really mean: I’ve written the rough draft of six novels. Sure I like to say “I’ve written six novels” to try to impress people, but if anyone would read these “novels”, he would read for five minutes, stick out his tongue, squinch up his…
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Writing blog roundup: make trouble, right choices, wrong words, when writing, writer’s block
Articles on writing I’ve read lately: Make trouble for your character. When in doubt, make trouble for your character. How to make the right choices for your novel. How do you know which choices are right for your novel? How to Ruin Your Novel’s Opening with a Few Wrong Words. Choosing the right set of words–the…