MICE, Fractals and Budgets
Following Mary Robinette Kowal’s guest lecture for Sanderson’s 2020 course, we started looking at Word Budgets. Let’s go further with […]
Writing
Posts on the craft of writing
History, Historical Fiction and Fantasy: What Gives?
If history is stuff that happened, and fantasy is stuff somebody made up, then what’s historical fiction? History, historical fiction
The Plotter versus the ‘Pantser’
It’s said that writers fall into two types: the plotter versus the ‘pantser,’ more politely described as a ‘discovery writer.’
Arcs, Pacing and Plotting
Do you sit in front of the TV or a book and admire the character arcs, pacing and plotting? Just
What’s your Word Budget?
Master of short stories Mary Robinette Kowal delivered a guest lecture for Sanderson’s 2020 course which raised the interesting question:
Thirty-eight Elements of Story
While I don’t use Fictionary‘s software tool itself, I’ve learned to construct the grandmother of spreadsheets to track their editing
Writing to Market
Writing to Market means writing types of books that are known to sell well. For an author that means finding
The Fantasy Fiction Challenge
About this time last year, I received the fantasy fiction challenge during an online discussion about self publishing and the
The Legacy of the Rings
What I call Tolkein’s Legacy of the Rings doesn’t kick-start the fantasy genre. It originates in the roots of story
In Medias Res
‘Starting the story in the middle’: that’s the Latin term in medias res. The Greek playwrights understood it well. Don’t