The key elements of a bestselling novel
The Independent newspaper had an interesting piece today about a pair of researchers (Penguin UK editor Jodie Archer, and associate professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,...
What Jackie Chan can teach us about writing action
Following up my post on what writers can learn from Akira Kurosawa, I’m going to do another blog post on writing- this time based on the nine...
Good Advice from Author Scott Sigler about Writing Your First Novel
Post by Scott Sigler.
Parkinson’s Law for Writers- Introduction
Although he was not entirely serious at the time, Cyril Northcote Parkinson once declared one of life’s truisms- “The demand upon a resource tends to expand to...
Structuring Your Story
Today I came across the blog Storyfix, and author Larry Brook’s 10-part Story Structure Series. In it, Brooks lays out his take on the 4-act structure, and...
Plotting Thread
As I discussed in Prepping Your Novel, there are a vast number of different ways you can go about plotting a story. Currently in the Writer’s Cafe...
Why Your First Draft Should Suck (and That’s a Good Thing!)
I’m a couple chapters in to my newest work-in-progress, and it kinda sucks. But that’s okay, in fact, that’s great! Let me explain. Of the many pieces...
Word Counts for Fiction
A common problem for writers is trying to decide how long to make their stories. Now, the proper answer is of course- as long as it needs...
Writing Chinese Style, or how to Crank Out 50,001 Words in a Day.
Not everyone knows this, but Chinese and European chefs actually take a radically different approach to cooking. In the European style (which we naturally follow in North...
Becoming a better writer through purging “thought” verbs.
Chuck Palahniuck (writer of Fight Club, the book) had this great advice up on Lit Reactor that I thought I’d share. His argument is an old one...