Inspiration is hard to come by. You have to take it where you find it. —Bob Dylan The inspiration for an idea for a story, poem, or novel is sometimes immediate—you have an ‘a-ha’ moment where a thought floods you. What’s harder is finding the inspiration to complete a project. I look for motivation in…
Tag: fiction
Supernatural Survival Skills
This is a recent feature added to my Facebook fan page — just a little fun to try your hand at surviving horror scenarios. If you would like more, please join me on Facebook.
White-washing the world: trying to handle race in your fiction (if you’re white)
Pick up a book. Almost any book. If it’s a white character, does the author ever say “white”—or is it just assumed? One difficulty (for me) when writing a character of a race (other than white) is that you have to be so blatant about it—because white is assumed. Racial identity is much more than…
Character motivation: a brief thought
Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. —Kurt Vonnegut Knowing your character’s motivation, while seeming simple, isn’t always easy. First, different scenes will have different motivation. For example, in a murder mystery, the main motivation of the protagonist will be to solve the mystery. In another scene, the…
The dreams of characters — a brief thought
When writing characters, do we ever stop to consider the characters’ dreams? The things, places, and people that our characters dream about—including daydream—tell the reader so much about the true motivation and desires of our characters. How characters interact with their fantasies tell us much about the character: do they indulge their fantasies, do they…
The Runes (a sneak peek at my next novel)
Prologue It was like a bur—the kind you get stuck to your clothing crossing a late summer field or side-of-the-road ditch—only, it was stuck to her insides. She could feel it there, burrowing in, deeper each moment, contaminating her blood, feeding on her. Ilene pressed her hands to her stomach until her exposed flesh turned…
Dialogue — a brief thought
“Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms.” Alfred Hitchcock This is excellent advice for a visual medium, like film. In writing, how do we accomplish the same affect? Communication is 90% non-verbal. When speaking, what…
Character and scenery — a brief thought
Something to think about when writing: striking a balance between description of place — to put the reader there — and developing the character who interacts in that place. How does the character feel about the scenery, how does it affect the character? “Scenery is fine — but human nature is finer.” —John Keats
So who is your character again? PART 2
Last week I posed the question, “So who is your character again?” Much of the article focused on raising questions to ask as a writer while developing a character. This post will focus on answering those questions. In general, a writer should know more about a character than ever appears in the book or story….
So who is your character again?
As writers, we’re often told, “write what you know.” But what do we really know. If I know a single mom, are all single moms like her? Of course not. Many factors make us who we are, and as we write characters, we need to think about the myriad factors that make characters who they…
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