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Donald E. Westlake is perhaps the definitive writer’s writer, having published more than one hundred books under various names, including Curt Clark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt, Edwin West, Judson Jack Carmichael and – most famously – Richard Stark. Why so many names? Partly because Westlake showed admirable brand management by choosing different names when writing in different genres, and partly …
[Read more...] about 7 Ways Donald E. Westlake (And Richard Stark) Can Help You Improve Your Writing
For a while now, we’ve been putting overly rigid writing advice under the microscope with 3 Writing Myths You Should Feel Free To Ignore and 3 (More) Writing Myths You Should Feel Free To Ignore. Today, we’re back in the lab, examining more absolutes to see if they belong in your writing. Myth #7: Write what you know The reason for this advice is fairly obvious. Karen Blixen is far more …
[Read more...] about Another 3 Writing Myths You Should Feel Free To Ignore
What set your character on their path through the story? Yes, they should have a goal, but why is that goal so important to them? What kind of event is enough to justify telling a whole story about the reaction? A talented author can turn pretty much any event into a justifiable reason to follow a character through to the end, but there are also stock options – easy, tried and tested choices, that …
[Read more...] about What Is ‘Fridging’, And How Can You Avoid It?
It’s true that sports have had a difficult time breaking out of nonfiction (after all, there’s certainly no shortage of sports memoirs, biographies, and histories); despite the efforts of writers including Ernest Hemingway, Alan Sillitoe, Nick Hornby, David Foster Wallace, and Haruki Murakami, sports rarely seem to muscle into the literary sphere, and that’s a shame. Done well, a sharp game of …
[Read more...] about Write Better Sports Fiction With These Tips
The human body (along with weapons, martial artists, and horses) is one of the most frequently abused and misunderstood objects in popular media. Hollywood has us nodding sagely as human bodies take obscene amounts of punishment, people slip unconscious just to wake up a couple of hours later totally fine, and swords pass through necks without a hitch. Characters who get shot in the arm shrug off …
[Read more...] about What You Need To Know About Writing Injuries
Sex scenes have a variety of uses in story telling – they can be the emotional climax of a central story or subplot, they can be a compelling way to build characters or share exposition, and they can offer up some much-needed titillation. Like any other type of scene, it can take practice and consideration to write good sex, but unlike a fight or chase, there’s a particular stigma to writing …
[Read more...] about 3 Ways To Write A Better Sex Scene
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