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Friday’s Findings
He who controls the spice, controls the universe. Frank Herbert, Dune And he who controls the movie rights to Dune controls how people perceive the novel. Dune continues to be my favorite science fiction novel since my teen years. It’s been made for the screen three times so far: Dune (1984), Dune mini-series (2000), and…
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Friday’s Findings
Every situation is an opportunity for a writer to collect sensory details. Tomorrow, one of my closest friends for many years (decades, really), is getting married. I’m so happy for her and her groom. As a writer, I’m going to take the opportunity to mentally record sensory details for possible use in future stories. Weddings…
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Friday’s Findings
Six to eight past midday. That is when I am writing. I don’t have the luxury of writing full time, so I need a schedule to motivate me to apply body to chair, fingers to keyboard. A person can get a lot done in two hours. Some writing advice: Story Structure: How The Act Three…
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Friday’s Findings: Record Your Feelings
First, here are some articles on writing I came across this week: Writing Do’s And Don’ts: Room Settings Is Self-Publishing a Good Choice for Your Novel? Novel writing: tips for faster first drafts Five Common Beginning Writer Storytelling Mistakes Everyone is getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Why can’t I? Some of us are choosing to get vaccinated. Some…
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MY FAVORITE SF&F SHOWS, PART 6
It’s been some time since I’ve reviewed some of my favorite science fiction and fantasy shows on my blog, and I’ve seen some good stuff lately. So here’s my take on WandaVision, Star Trek: Picard, and His Dark Materials (Season 2). Warning: There may be some minor spoilers in my reviews. And also, I’m going…
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Start The Scene With Action And Dialogue
Okay, this is a long post. Just warning you. This good news is you can just read the highlights in bold to get the gist for each section. This post is for reference as you may want to experiment with the writing exercise I’ve fleshed out in the following paragraphs. In the previous post, I…
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Friday’s Findings: A Fiction writing Experiment in Layering
I’ve been experimenting with layering as a way to develop a scene. One aspect of layering I find helpful is how it can focus on the dialogue and action. I believe those two fiction elements are where a writer should begin when writing a scene draft. Here’s how I’ve been doing it: I make a…
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Friday’s Findings
Writing advice from one of my favorite science fiction authors: I’d just like to say that writing advice is just that: advice. It’s not a set of rules; it’s contextual. I know I’ve contradicted myself in the advice I’ve given in the past, and that’s because the needs of each writer and story are different.…
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Book Reviews: Science Fiction And Fantasy I’ve Read So Far in 2021
A few things I’ve noticed in my reading so far in 2021: alternate realities, teams of mercenaries, sports in other realms and people with superpowers. I’ve also discovered I enjoy reading novellas which are books under 200 pages. Several of my reviews below are of short novels which I enjoyed reading in one afternoon. Or…
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