We Write!
[--- Karen Myers ---] I belong to the school of thought that believes that anything that throws a reader out of a story, that breaks his trance, is a bad thing. Typical offenses in this regard are contradictions within the story world, conflicts with how reality works or actual historical circumstances, and character inconsistency ("...but... Continue Reading →
What do you do when the writing isn't working? Well, in my case I freak out. Usually when the writing isn't working it's one of two things: Either I really don't like whatever I'm trying to force through, or I'm sick again. Being sick is still sort of on the differential. Why? Well, because I... Continue Reading →
Here reader, reader, reader! Source: Pixabay Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay Alma T. C. Boykin I was reading a history book that had, to date, the least effective "hook" of a starting sentence I have read. The book is far better than the first line, but if that's what sells the story, this volume... Continue Reading →
I'm still struggling with the petty bureaucrats. Honestly, I am close to despair and 'I may not win, ever', because bureaucracy tended officially as 'helping' with the pretext of 'looking after your/public safety' is a sacred ritual, no matter if the statistical probability of injury. In fact, it is more important to prevent disasters like... Continue Reading →
My morning started with a simple plan: start Roomba-Actual (successor to Not-A-Roomba. Is an e6 model, but often fails to live up to that and gets called Roomba-Butterbar when it gets lost inside the chair legs), then start laundry, and follow by mopping at least two rooms. Except Roomba-Actual was acting even stupider than its... Continue Reading →
With the kind permission of our gracious hostess, I'd like to draw your attention to a survey for Indie Authors. Several years ago I joined the Alliance for Independent Authors (abbrev ALLi), an industry group based in the UK with a very substantial US constituency. (You can find out more at the link. They're helpful... Continue Reading →
We have been talking about the process we use for publishing, over at Raconteur Press, as we streamline it and work in having more than one person doing it all. Which is very interesting, and actually relevant to the Indie authors as well. For myself, having done this for years, I hadn't really sat down... Continue Reading →
Karen's post yesterday inspired me to do some serious thinking about how I'm handling worldbuilding in the WIP. (Note: this is not the same as seriously inspired thinking. Alas.) It's another Regency fantasy set in the imaginary world of Din Eidyn, which I think of as what Edinburgh would have been like at the time... 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 →
One day, you’re writing along, oh-so-innocently, and then you see, off in the distance, the looming train wreck that your characters, even more innocent than you, are about to encounter. You can see it coming; there’s no stopping it, unless you stop the story entirely, and you’re a writer, goshdarnit!- you’d sooner cut off a... Continue Reading →
Mad Genius Club 