I think this is an essential information for every single writer. I wanted to re-blog it for as many as possible to read it. Thank you very much, Chris, for this great find!
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
A blog for authors, about authors, written by an author
I think this is an essential information for every single writer. I wanted to re-blog it for as many as possible to read it. Thank you very much, Chris, for this great find!
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
Bluebirdofbitterness made me laugh loudly. Thanks for this hilarious blog post. Of course I can’t resist to re-blog to spread the smile.
Jenny of “Jenny in Neverland” published a very interesting view on blogs and followers. I thought I’d reblog and give as many readers as possible a chance to let their opinion hear about this. Thank you Jenny.
Having followers and readers is great. I won’t lie. When I started my blog, although I loved writing book reviews and enjoyed it immensely, I would often dream about having a decent amount of followers who I could get to know, exchange comments with and build a rapport with. I would grow green with envy at the bloggers who had hundreds, sometimes thousands of followers. Who would receive comment after comment on their latest post and who would constantly be chatting to people all over the blogosphere. I realised that although I loved writing and reading – followers were something I wanted too.
View original post 812 more words
What a fantastic post on how to create legendary villains. This is awesome and will help me so much! Thank you, Kristen Lamb.
American Horror Story “Freak Show” on FX
This past Saturday I held my Bullies & Baddies class and a couple of the folks posited a really good question worth talking about. How do we write great villains? One of the reasons I love holding this class is that all stories require a core antagonist (who is responsible for generating the story problem in need of resolution), but there are different types of antagonists. All villains are antagonists but not all antagonists are villains.
But since we went there, what goes into creating a truly terrifying villain?
I watch a ton of movies and television series. I also read around three novels a week. I’m always studying, breaking stories apart so that I can understand them better. I do it for my fiction, but also so I can share what I learn with you guys.
Though the series isn’t for everyone…
View original post 1,976 more words
Kristen Lamb wrote a post about three reasons to kill your “little darlings”. And you will find out when reading her post, what she is talking about. It is such a helpful post. You will see!
Image via Flickr Creative Commons, courtesy of Frederik Andreasson
I love helping writers and one service I offer that’s been particularly valuable is plot consult. Writers who are struggling to finish or who start off with one idea after another only for that great idea to fall flat? They call me. Querying and getting nowhere? Again, contact me.
I’ve busted apart and repaired hundreds of plots. Thus far I’ve yet to meet a plot I couldn’t repair.
But, in my many years of doing this, I’ve seen enough troubled plots to note some common denominators for a failed story. One ingredient for plot disaster stands apart.
Little darlings.
As writers, we are at risk of falling in love with our own cleverness. The “cool” idea, the super amazing mind-blowing twist at the end. We get so caught up in how smart we are that we fail to see that we…
View original post 1,739 more words
Kristen Lamb has published a post about lies and secrets in the fiction world. I think it’s a very helpful post when it comes to character conflict. Thank you so much Kristen.
Image courtesy of Nebraska Oddfish via Flickr Creative Commons
It’s tempting for us to create “perfect” protagonists and “pure evil” antagonists, but that’s the stuff of cartoons, not great fiction. Every strength has an array of corresponding weaknesses, and when we understand these soft spots, generating conflict becomes easier. Understanding character arc becomes simpler. Plotting will fall into place with far less effort.
All stories are character-driven. Plot merely serves to change characters from a lowly protagonist into a hero….kicking and screaming along the way. Plot provides the crucible.
One element that is critical to understand is this:
To quote Dr. Gregory House, “Everybody lies.”
All good stories hinge on secrets.
I have bodies under my porch.
Okay, not all secrets in our fiction need to be THIS huge.
We all have a face we show to the world, what we…
View original post 1,443 more words