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Sometimes, the thing that makes a story pop isn’t the exact events of the plot or the details of the characterisation, but the context in which the story is presented. Sometimes, it’s setting up a question or expectation with an unusual title, like in A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters and John Dies at the End; sometimes, it’s adopting unusual chronology, recounting events out of sequential …
[Read more...] about Can A Framing Device Improve Your Writing?
Editing your story is, if we’re honest, more than half the battle of completing it. The first draft is a rush of creativity, but it’s in the editing that you turn it into a well-oiled machine that (crucially) is more concerned with entertaining the reader than acting as an outlet for the author. The technical, word-by-word editing is, if not easy, at least approachable. You can break it down …
[Read more...] about How (And When) To Stop Front-Loading Your Story
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
I love the idea of dream logic – how dreams can go, and how even though they’re very abstract, you can understand them. – David Lynch from Thomas Caldwell’s ‘Living Inside a Dream: The Art and Films of David Lynch’ Despite all the insight modern science has given us, it still hasn’t solved the mystery of dreams. The field of neuroscience is unlocking secrets of the brain every day, but it …
[Read more...] about Your Dreams Can Improve Your Writing
Many writers, particularly if they’re writing fantasy, YA, or sci-fi, like to spice up their stories with the occasional song and poem. Maybe they’re trying to aid characterization with some soulful poetry, share exposition through a traditional ballad, or just make their world feel a little more real. Done well, such embedded works can bring a story to life, but they can also distract readers, …
[Read more...] about Including Original Poetry And Song In Your Fiction (What You Need To Know)
This is a two-part article. For part 1, click here. In part 1 of this guide to inventing a fictional language, I described the tips and tricks you can use to construct your vocabulary and grammar. But as I said then, we’re not done yet – real languages aren’t perfect systems, and their intricacies and peculiarities bear the marks of history. Even then, a perfectly designed language isn’t …
[Read more...] about Want To Invent A Fictional Language? Here’s How To Do It – Part 2
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