Category: General Thoughts & Updates

November 2, 2015

Do Authors Tell Stories Or Lies?

A friend of mine is a teacher for a private enrichment company, and one night, she had a student who was determined to argue. Whatever the topic, he could find something wrong with it. When they got to fiction, he pretended to be horrified, saying that fiction is a lie (and, therefore, morally wrong). It was obvious that he was deliberately...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques/Quotes, Words, & Phrases/Research & Worldbuilding Comments: 0

November 1, 2015

You Can’t Scare Your Audience Without Suspension of Disbelief

All this talk about horror seems like the perfect time to mention suspension of disbelief – the ability to set aside reality long enough to enjoy the story. As readers or audience members, we have to accept the underlying “lies” of the story (supernatural monsters, magic, amazingly advanced technology, talking animals, or even people bursting out into song and dance),...

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October 31, 2015

The Town of Elsewhere: A Scary Short Story for Your Halloween

What’s Halloween without at least one scary story? I thought this one was pretty good and well-written, but as LeVar Burton would say, “…you don’t have to take my word for it.” “There’s A Town In Kentucky That You Won’t Ever Be Able To Find On A Map, And For Good Reason” by Seamus Coffey The overgrown gravel road leading...

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October 30, 2015

An Author’s Thrill: Recipes from the Worlds of J.K. Rowling & J.R.R. Tolkien

As a reader, it’s always fun to find recipes for foods from your favorite books for movies. I recently came across one for homemade butterbeer, and, of course, many people have tried to recreate Tolkien’s cakes and foods from The Hobbit, including researching the kinds of food that Tolkien would have been familiar with (“Food in The Hobbit“). Thinking about it as an author, though,...

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October 29, 2015

When Complications Go Too Far: The Lazy Reader Issue

As I was getting distracted on Facebook instead of doing what I got on FB to do (again), I clicked on yet another post about Disney character remakes as this or that. It’s kind of old hat now, but I enjoy seeing them – if it doesn’t take too much time or energy. That’s the problem. See, as soon as...

Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/General Thoughts & Updates/Research & Worldbuilding Comments: 0

October 28, 2015

Gotta Catch ’em All – Not

Too often, we try to make our writing appeal to everyone. We cut something that might offend one group of readers even though it would probably amuse another. We add something to try to interest a third group. Adding and cutting like this can mangle a story so much that everything that used to be good about it is buried...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates/Humor & Wordplay/Writer Resources Comments: 0

October 27, 2015

The Mystery of the Meh Film: Nature Or Nurture?

I bet every one of you have a seen a movie or television show that was ok (with meh overtones) but could’ve been great if it’d had better writing. You know the ones I’m talking about – the shows that get brought up with an “if only” (either in a grumble or a sigh, possibly over alcohol). I can think...

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October 25, 2015

Learning To Write Stories

I like to joke that I was writing stories before I knew how to write words. That usually gets me a “you’re weird” expression or a generally confused look, but it’s actually true. Even back when I was a toddler and hadn’t learned to write (or read) yet, I would make up stories. And since people had read books to...

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October 23, 2015

Actor Or Author: We Have Revealing Jobs

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October 20, 2015

A Happy Day: This Writer’s Dream

A happy day Is a comfy seat, A cup of tea, A way to write, And nowhere to be. Other than some lucky weekends, right now this poem is a dream. I am lucky enough to write for a living, and I am very grateful for that. Although I never imagined I would write educational materials, I like my work,...

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