The Toolbox – what goes Around the Words
Choosing the words… picking which shapes to fit around your prose gems to really show them off, and when not to try as hard… It means juggling paragraphs, “said” tags, adjectives, punctuation, and yet...
View ArticleA Few Words More–or Less?
Does the line need a little more, does a description need an adjective, or maybe a little about a thing’s sound or motion as well as its shape? It all comes down to words. (The Unified Writing Field...
View ArticleWriting Travel Scenes: What to Keep Moving
Do you ever notice how often “the hero’s journey” isn’t just a metaphor? Travel’s a huge part of many stories, sometimes long days or weeks on the road, sometimes brief hops that still get wedged so...
View ArticleQuiet Scene or Boring Scene? What can make the difference
We call them “character moments” or “pacing breaks” when we write them, or “boring scenes” when somebody else tries and fails. We know the story isn’t complete if it’s all twists and suspense, but...
View ArticleThe Plot-Device Machine – Movement
I’m about to share with you my all-purpose tool for the all-purpose question that my characters (and I’d bet yours) are constantly asking. That question is, “How do I get out of this one?” (The Unified...
View ArticleAction Stories, to Scale – Lessons from Netflix’s Daredevil
Devil may, devil may, devil may care How many devils does Daredevil dare? I’ve finally started watching the Netflix Daredevil series. For general storytelling fun, and especially for its action, it...
View ArticleA Jessica Jones Experiment – Take the TMI Test
So Season 2 of Jessica Jones is out. And this time it’s almost perfect. As a show, Jessica… how do I say this? Her first season was the only series that’s ever made me rethink Buffy The Vampire-Slayer...
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