A book was recommended to me. The premise was fun, but the author exhibited a writing tic that had me screaming and casting the book aside by Chapter 4. The prose was littered with somehow, somewhere, sometime, someone, and something. Someone tidied my study while I was at the museum. Is it really a mystery […]
In response to a challenge to engage with readers as a reader, this is a chronicle of my recent reading, which should swiftly demonstrate why talking about what I’m reading won’t actually make me any friends. I am constitutionally incapable of lying about how much I love everything I read. Some of the things I
I want to thank the person who recommended Building Great Sentences: How to write the kind of sentences you love to read by Brooks Landon, not because I have much positive to say about it but because now I know who to blame for a lot of copy editors’ bald spots where they’ve ripped out
A student asked, “How do you know where to put a chapter break?” Short answer: vibes. Grouping and separating ideas is a large part of writing. Sentences, paragraphs, scenes, chapters, parts I and II of a book, books in a series—all are choices about what belongs together. Andri did this, and Banti did that. Here,
One of today’s writer hashtag games involves “Show, Don’t Tell.” Since I have seen approximately zero participants demonstrate an understanding of the concept and my blood pressure is skyrocketing as a result, here’s a quick tutorial. What Telling Is NOT Dialogue, character thoughts, and narration are not what is meant by “telling.” Conveying any form
This isn’t a Never Do This Shit post because movies are great for teaching a lot of general storytelling concepts. Many of film’s lessons about pacing, rising action, characterization, doling out exposition, the content of dialogue, and more can be directly applied to stories that are meant to be read rather than produced and watched.
Between a workshop I’m running anonymously for a writer who doesn’t write, Reddit writing subs, and a nepotism hire at my soulless corporate writing gig, I’m being besieged from all sides by mistreatment of supporting characters. I’m doing what I can to address specific abuses, but I’ll collect my general thoughts on the subject here.