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November 4, 2015

The Top Tool for Realism Is Imagery

It’s hard to talk about realistic writing without talking about imagery. What I said yesterday about realism related to research, experiences, and believability is true, but it was still framed in big ideas (almost more related to plotting: what situations or experiences will the reader believe are real?). Imagery is more about the small details of the experience, and it is one...
Categories General Thoughts & Updates/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques/Research & Worldbuilding Comments: 6
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),...
Categories General Thoughts & Updates/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques Comments: 3
October 21, 2015

10 Puns From Films: From Serious To Silly

            EM: Hello, I’m Em T. Wytte, and I love puns.             ALL: Hi, Em. Puns don’t get the best rap nowadays (personally, I blame groaners for this); however, for all that it isn’t “cool” to like puns, they are everywhere. They’re in movies, they’re on tv, they’re in advertisements, they’re in memes, and they’re in books. They’re a huge...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Humor & Wordplay/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques/Theatre & Film Comment: 1
October 14, 2015

A Little Allusion Never Hurt Anybody

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve mentioned allusions a couple times (“A Book Review: Lynne Truss’ Eats, Shoots & Leaves” and “I’m Going To Be Doing This All Day“), but I never really explained what they were (sorry!). An allusion is basically a reference to something else. It could be a reference to a famous work of literature, a...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Humor & Wordplay/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques Comment: 1
October 13, 2015

Personality Tests: An Exercise in Characterization

Want to test how well you know your character? Russ’s comment on Deathwalker 3.6 made me think of a great characterization exercise: Take a personality test from your character’s perspective. Answer the questions the way your character would and see whether the results agree with how you think of your character (or at least, if they agree as much as you...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Creative Process/General Thoughts & Updates/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques Comments: 0
October 7, 2015

I Must Be Doing Something Right: “Pixar’s Rules of Storytelling” by Readers+Writers Journal

As a writer, I often find that I am a strange combination of extreme arrogance and utter insecurity. One minute, I’m supremely confident in what I’ve written: the next, I’m supremely confident that it’s crap. That’s why it’s very reassuring to find out that a resource I admire agrees with what I’ve written (or, more likely, has said the same thing without ever...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/General Thoughts & Updates/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques Comments: 0
September 23, 2015

Don’t Forget the Everyday

When you’re focused on the big picture of the plot, it’s easy to forget that the character has a normal life that’s been put aside for this adventure – little things that have to happen every day for life to go on. When the author ignores everyday life completely, however, the story gets a bit surreal and less believable. I...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Creative Process/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques/Research & Worldbuilding Comments: 0