We all know that writing is a solitary process, one where a writer stereotypically locks themselves away somewhere and bangs on a typewriter (keyboard) until brilliance comes out. Your story usually is between you and your brain (and your muse,
Character-Driven vs. Plot-Driven
Evening, Squiders. I hope it’s not as hot where you are as it is here. When we were talking about pacing last week, we mentioned that slower pacing tends to emphasize character over plot, and faster pacing tends to emphasize
What is Pacing?
I wrote up this pacing info sheet to use for discussion at my writing group’s storycraft meeting the other day, and I thought the rest of you might enjoy it as well. Pacing is interesting–it’s mostly organic and instinctual, and
Consistency
You’ve probably heard it said a dozen times over, in a dozen ways: the one requirement to be a writer is to write. But life is cyclical. Priorities change. Things happen. Writing sometimes falls by the wayside, and sometimes it
Value in Old Writing Magazines?
I went by my mother’s today, and she asked me to help her clear out her old writing magazines to make room for some other re-arranging. (She was somewhat disappointed because she thought she had tons of magazines, but over
Character Archetypes: An Introduction
So, Squiders, over the next month we’re going to be looking at a series of the most common character archetypes. What’s an archetype? An archetype is generally defined as something–a character, theme, or situation, for example–that can be considered “universal.”
An Alternative to Writers Conferences
I meant to tell you guys that if getting to a writers conference isn’t doable, either from a money standpoint or because of a scheduling issue, or if you’d like to get an idea of what a writing panel might be like
Are Writers Conferences Useful?
For a general answer, I would say yes. There’s a lot of useful things that can be gotten out of a writers conference: networking with other authors, the opportunity to see where your genre/the industry seems to be heading, and
What Constitutes Storycraft?
Websites are still down. Sigh. So, I mentioned earlier that I’ve taken over the storycraft meetings of my local speculative fiction writing group. I really enjoy these meetings, but I sometimes find it hard to pick appropriate topics to discuss.
The Tricky Art of Character Creation
Before I get started, Squiders, let me note that both KitCampbellBooks.com and KitTheEditor.com are currently down. Apparently some sort of malicious source code snuck in through one of my WordPress plugins and tried to send people to other websites, so
