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Is there such a thing as actual non-fiction? In short, yes, but it almost always comes in the form of graphs, bone-dry reports, and scientific studies where the authors deliberately fight against a sense of narrative in favor of pure fact. Everything else – diaries, memoirs, historical writing – has a dash of narrative in it, whether it’s in the form of presentation, focus, or content. In its …
[Read more...] about How To Find The Story In Your Non-fiction Project
How do you introduce a character? With an action, with dialogue, via someone else, before they’re even in the scene? The ideal approach depends on the story, but a character sketch – a short passage that focuses on an immediate, extensive description of who the character is and what they look like – is perhaps the most common choice. There’s good reason for that, but while character sketches …
[Read more...] about Is A Character Sketch The Best Way To Introduce Your Characters?
First things first: no, I’m not talking about the Arthur Miller play The Crucible or the film starring Daniel Day-Lewis. There will be no witches or men getting crushed to death by stones here, I’m afraid. Instead, a literary crucible is a narrative mechanism coined by writer James Frey designed to help out writers whose central conflicts are becoming so intense (good for drama) that characters …
[Read more...] about What Is A Crucible, And Why Should You Include One In Your Writing?
Characters, and the relationships between them, are essential to a good story. Sometimes, stories require, or at least tolerate, a large cast. Other times, medium is a better fit – lots of variety and options for location and activity, but more intimate than the A Song of Ice and Fire cast. Then there are the occasional stories that focus primarily or exclusively on just a few people. Such stories …
[Read more...] about The Unexpected Benefits Of Working With A Tiny Cast
When it comes to mining your life for artistic inspiration, proverbs abound: Art imitates life. Truth is stranger than fiction. Write what you know. It can be immensely helpful and inspiring to draw from your own life experience to inform your writing. It can also be a minefield. Authors who have attempted to put real-life people or events on the page have asked themselves: Is this going to …
[Read more...] about How To Mine Your Life For Art (Without Being Disowned)
All art is political, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The way in which we believe the world to work – the way we think it should work – has a natural part to play in both our creation of fictional worlds and how we depict our own. The connection between art and politics is natural, but it runs deep, and that means that your political beliefs often influence your art in ways you don’t …
[Read more...] about How To Manage The Politics Of Your Writing
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