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Consider Iain Banks
A few days ago, Iain Banks, one of my favorite authors, passed away. This Scottish writer crafted novels under two names:” Iain Banks” for mainline fiction, and” Iain M. Banks” for science fiction. I’ve read him under both genres. Many consider him a master of “space opera” which is a sub-category of science fiction. I…
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Writing blog roundup
Some entries from blogs on writing that I’ve read lately: Does it matter where a writer lives: a big city or the countryside; a two-story house or a basement; a culturally diverse or monotonous neighborhood? Read more. Why Keeping a Journal is so Important for Writers and all Creative Types. Read more. The Art of Character:…
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The girlfriend of my protagonist is boring. Hate her.
No, I don’t really hate her. She has the potential to be an interesting character for my novel–for now I’m calling it The Deity Run–but it’s my fault she’s boring with an uppercase B. In the first draft I wrote during National Novel Writing Month, I created a girlfriend for my protagonist, Ferdinand Clark. Her…
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How does the Snowflake Method work?
Now if you are not a math whiz, don’t let this scare you: The Snowflake Method of writing a novel follows the same idea of a fractal design that starts off small and builds up. It’s easier to understand if you see this visual. A snowflake is a fractal design and that is the whole…
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The next step: The Snowflake Method
For National Novel Writing Month, I wrote a rough draft of a novel called The Deity Run. Instead of “rough draft,” a more accurate term would be “discovery draft” for in this first writing, I usually discover the characters, plot, theme and more about my story. Now that I have my “discovery draft” for The…
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My reading this past year: 2012
Just to be weird, I’d like to break down what I read this past year. I have been keeping lists of what I have read since 2003, and here is the latest. I’ve rated the books by giving them five points, five being the best possible score. Here is the list broken down by genre:…
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Writing habits: try this, not that
In my last post, I strongly suggested that practicing writing every day was the big Secret to becoming a better writer. Now, I don’t want to imply that is the only habit to incorporate into a writing discipline. It may be the most important one, but other habits exist that a writer should address. I’ve…
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No, seriously: how can I become a better writer?
I use to teach creative writing courses to adults. The excitement the people brought to the class inspired me. They wanted to be there. They had great ideas. They sought ways to become better writers. They seemed disappointed when I told them the Secret. I believe they expected me to pull out magic pills for…
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Now that I don’t have a deadline . . .
On Friday morning, November 30th, twelve and a half hours before midnight November 30th, I passed 50,000 for NaNoWriMo. My story is not finished. What is to keep me motivated? Well, besides being an interesting story to me, I need to set a deadline for myself. My goal is to finish the novel before midnight…
My Projects:
Andrew M. Friday 