We Write!
Everyone remembers those decisions, those actions (or inactions) that, well, could have changed your world -always in our belief, for the better. Of course, many of the other decisions, the other actions (or inactions) that DID change your world... most of those are forgotten. Not all, naturally - we remember wedding anniversaries (or we can... Continue Reading →
While rereading a seasonal poem, I realized that it fits the pattern Karen pointed out last week with "Lady Diamond." It also fits what Sarah was taking about with the shadows, the quiet darkness, that casts the light and action into higher relief. "Then he said “Good night!” and with muffled oarSilently rowed to the... Continue Reading →
[Alma T. C. Boykin] N.B. I'm not talking about true writer's block, or burn out. I've never blocked completely yet. I've had months where I "piddled around" and didn't accomplish as much as I wanted to, but never had a total brain lock. Yet. [taps wood] There you are, typing away on your Work-In-Progress (WIP)... Continue Reading →
[--- Karen Myers ---] Chekhov's gun is all very well, but I like my worlds with a little bit more padding on them. Life isn't a stage play, and neither are novels. In brief, the advice is that every object or incident in a story exists to be a clue/foreshadow, either genuine or misleading in... Continue Reading →
"Stop Digging!" Which is great if you are a real person, but there are times when you need a character to keep digging. Or when a character is bound and determined to keep digging no matter what you, the mere author, want. So, do you wince and wait to see how bad it's going to... Continue Reading →
[--- Karen Myers ---] It's a constant debate, whether people shape stories or stories shape people. I think it's a chicken-and-egg issue, myself. Terry Pratchet had his own opinion. We're biased. As writers, we are people, and we are shaping stories. But we're not the people that count: that would be our characters. Just as... Continue Reading →
Or, how much do I trust what I can't control? I'm watching a writer-friend losing her mind because the story she's writing, after years away from a series, is not going the way they thought it would, or to the length they thought it would, and the characters are getting into situations that she didn't... Continue Reading →
Right now I'm about ready to go looking, because it may have chewed a hole through the fence and gone a'wandering. And worst of all, it's taken the other one with it. I wonder if I put up flyers, looking for the return of one space opera, novel-sized plot, and one urban fantasy, novella-sized, if... Continue Reading →
'The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.' Proverbs 18 verse 17 Follow any court case - or even any debate, and if you're undecided, it's who puts the most convincing case, which is both logical and consistent. The facts, set out by either party, from their... Continue Reading →
This is my brain, waving. Hi! No, seriously. What else would you be reading, if not the complicated interaction of mental impulses transmitted to fingers with just enough force to depress the keys of my laptop (I really need to set up a keyboard...) Oh, look, a stray wave. One thought, conflicting with the overall... Continue Reading →
Mad Genius Club 