As Heinlein once pointed out, heroes and villains come in complimentary pairs. Sometimes the protagonist of a given tale will spend more time with or thinking about the antagonist than they do their significant other. One might even find fiction that turns the antagonist into the hero’s significant other. However, it could be argued that… Continue reading Building Character: The Adversarial Ally
Category: How-To
"What do you mean, I'm doing it wrong?"
Human beings, being mortal creatures, are bound to mess things up sooner or later. This is true in every endeavor an individual undertakes. And sometimes, it falls to others to inform us that we’re incorrect in the manner with which we’ve been proceeding. In other words, sooner or later, you’re going to be told you’re… Continue reading "What do you mean, I'm doing it wrong?"
PT: Handling Rejection
Maybe you got a letter. It could be something you received electronically. One way or another, a submission or entry upon which you’ve spent time and energy has been rejected. Now, I’m not talking about receiving constructive criticism. That’s always a good thing to get. Iron sharpening iron and all that. What I’m on about… Continue reading PT: Handling Rejection
Building Character: Quiet Strength
I know I said I’d be doing a post on adversarial allies next, but a few episodes of House & NCIS completely derailed that line of thinking. To me, at least, what makes for a good character is just as much what somebody doesn’t say as it is what they do say. As an example,… Continue reading Building Character: Quiet Strength
PT: Put In The Effort
Let me introduce you to a friend of mine, if you don’t already know him. Meet Chuck. He doesn’t work at an electronics store, nor does he voice his opinions on bad Trek episodes. No, this Chuck does something truly special. You may believe that what we do, as writers, is an effortless mental orgy… Continue reading PT: Put In The Effort
Building Character: The Brain
Not too long ago I discussed some basics on how to build effective characters. I think some specific examples might be helpful to people trying to scribble out compelling fiction, and in the wake of NaNoWriMo, you might be looking back over your work wondering how to improve something. Hopefully, examinations of existing characters might… Continue reading Building Character: The Brain
PT: Sit Down & Get Off Your Ass
Unless you’re a large business with the right sort of representation to bitch & whine to the government for a bailout, you can’t get something for nothing. You need to work to be successful. Even geckos know that. And you don’t want to be outdone by a gecko, do you? I didn’t think so. I… Continue reading PT: Sit Down & Get Off Your Ass
Cut Scenes & Cut Characters
Lighthouse is, I feel, benefiting from a lack of perspective. I want my heroine to maintain her unique voice throughout the story, which means periphery scenes told from an outside perspective need to be cut. This means that several of the characters I’d meant to introduce early in the story will also not make their… Continue reading Cut Scenes & Cut Characters
PT: Turning Negatives Into Positives
Nobody feels fantastic all the time, at least not without heavy drinking or severe medication. Creative people are, by and large, emotional and thus emotional blindsides getting hit can knock you right off of the rails you’d been riding towards the completion of a project. How do you deal with this sort of thing, other… Continue reading PT: Turning Negatives Into Positives
PT: Sentence Building
So this section used to be called “Breaking Writer’s Block” back in the early days of the blog. However, it has been proven by scientists that writer’s block is complete and utter bullshit. In light of this revelation, it’s necessary to rebrand this service I’m attempting to provide. So rather than breaking writer’s block, we… Continue reading PT: Sentence Building
