Posted in On Writing on Apr 24th, 2009
You can have the greatest story concept in the world, but unless you have conflict you won’t have dramatic tension. Basically, your line of conflict is the obstacle course you put your main character through so she wins her goal or mission and regains control of her life. That’s from Spielberg. Remember his definition of […]
Posted in On Writing on Apr 24th, 2009
Any creation is a god-like act, and creating characters is totally god-like. Most writers turn the act around. They perceive the character in a flash and then embark on a voyage of discovery, trying to figure out who and what this character is and what makes him/her act or react in certain ways. Perhaps this […]
Posted in On Writing on Apr 24th, 2009
Making time to write, as opposed to finding time, has long been a theme of mine, as any of my students can tell you. If you are really serious about being a writer, (as who of us are not?), you make necessary changes in your life. IMO, the most important change is making sure you […]
Posted in On Writing on Apr 24th, 2009
Written at the farm December 24, 2005 I spent a most enjoyable hour or two yesterday, curled in one of my lounge chairs here at the farm with a printout of the synopsis of a historical that has bugs in it. The original date of the document was 1993, so I’ve been working on it […]
Posted in On Writing on Apr 22nd, 2009
I have no idea how a flash drive works, but I can tell you how flash technology has improved my life. My flash drives have 100 to 200 megabytes of memory. They keep my data safe and are remarkably portable. Nice, because I go to the farm every four to six weeks to write. Also […]
Posted in On Writing on Apr 22nd, 2009
A piece of fiction begins with words on paper and gives the illusion of reality. You have an envelope of imposed imagery that contains characters and shapes their world. Readers must be swept into that magical place called suspension of disbelief. They know the story was conceived by some writer, but willingly accept its truths.