Audiences excuse much for the sake of entertainment. Good too for anyone who expects perfect reason is infuriated in life and disappointed with art. With the humility in traipsing on that line, I can’t stand a character who’s always right. Yes there must be conceits in the greatest stories, but I’ll concede where my weakness … Continue reading Always Right, Never Enjoyable
Tag: Writing Rules
Writing About Hobbies
I’ve written about incorporating your hobbies into your work but recently have pondered the opportunities in directly writing on those interests. In much the same fashion as what I’m doing here, writing about your passion is fun. I’ll extend that to any pursuit. If you want to be a writer, filmmaker, painter, actor, etc. start … Continue reading Writing About Hobbies
Mere Worth
The pink nail polish on the dollar bill brought a few questions to Stutshi’s mind. ‘What kind of girl could he ever get? Half a fossil… He was a good tipper.’ She scrunched up the dollar and the nail polish cracked in several places revealing the purple paper underneath. ‘Cheap stuff. I wear better nail … Continue reading Mere Worth
Recent Future, Near Past
A thought crossed my mind: When you’re only thinking about where your next meal is coming from, you can only think back to your last meal. I have never been in such a position, I won’t assert this is true, yet it cuts me. The higher thoughts I take for granted would likely evaporate in … Continue reading Recent Future, Near Past
The Big Sell
I want to coin the term scene genre as a shorthand for any conversation using, “It’s that type of scene where…” The formula is so established that by describing one or two facets of the scene the average person can conjure multiple examples of similar scenes in movies, TV, books, etc. Just by this setup: … Continue reading The Big Sell
Action Scene Flow
There’re many ways to construct an action scene and wow an audience. Each providing its thrills chills, bright colors, and loud sounds. It’s a fun ride while you’re on it. Unfortunately much like most else in life there’re as many ways to get an action scene wrong as there are right. One of the fundamentals … Continue reading Action Scene Flow
Fanfic Milieu
I’ve previously shunned fanfiction for its restrictiveness on original creativity and I stand by that sentiment especially for new writers. That said I stumbled into a goofy exercise which may help some discover an important aspect of their own writing. Recently part five of Dracula Flow came out (if you don’t know what that is … Continue reading Fanfic Milieu
Solely Spoken
After rereading Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants I noticed a similarity in style to that story and what I’m currently writing. There’s a high bar of quality to match and it has me contemplating the techniques used and how else they can be applied. If you’ve never read the story go straight there. It’s four … Continue reading Solely Spoken
Pausing a Character Arc
The ideal story will have the protagonist’s character arc run parallel to the advancing plot. As each scene flows into the next, the character will progressively advance en route to an end state materially different from whence they started. For most stories, this is the gold standard. But the methodology can differ for tales outside … Continue reading Pausing a Character Arc
Death of an Innocent Character
If you’ve ever written consistently you’re going to find yourself killing someone about one week in. No matter what genre, eventually someone dies. Like death itself, it’s natural and inevitable. But that doesn’t make it easy, unless you don’t care. For this character I’ve got on the chopping block now, I’m getting chewed up. That … Continue reading Death of an Innocent Character
Colin Klawans 