Stories are tricky things. People have different things they care about, especially when adapting something from one medium to another. Is the heroine still blond?Do they have that line that I loved from chapter 4?Where is that scene with the car chase?Is everything even in the correct sequence? But there is a core of what […]
I saw Man of Steel last weekend and as I was driving away, listening to a song on the radio (and I truly don’t even remember which one) I had this thought… And I’m warning you ahead of time, it’s not a revolutionary insight. It’s kind of obvious, actually. But when it struck me I […]
I’m not a plotter. Character and dialog I’m completely comfortable with but plot is a struggle for me (hopefully less and less as a I write more and more but for now it’s tough). So, I’m always looking to learn more about plotting or hear how successful authors address plot or read things that give […]
That’s a totally generic subject and I may revise it someday. But I’m reposting an excerpt of an interview with Melina Marchetta because what she says about heroines and romance is so true and, I think, so important to remember as both writers and readers. This next question is something that will probably always make […]
I seriously dislike the term Mary Sue. I used to despise it quite fiercely but writing this post siphoned most of that venom. I’m still bothered when I see that term used in a review or blog post. I always want to link back to this post with a comment that I don’t think they […]
The last Twilight movie is almost upon us and so my sister and I had a marathon this past weekend to prepare. For some reason just before we started Breaking Dawn part 1 we were talking about vampires or something and I commented that our current societal concept of vampires is from Joss Whedon. That […]
Plots are the most difficult part of the story for me. I can do character and dialog all day just for fun but plots require work and miracles of intuition and, well they’re just hard. So what do I do about it? I read, a lot. I read books by brilliant authors and I read […]
I so needed to hear this this morning. I was driving in to work this morning wondering why I’m having such a hard time writing this second book of mine. Why am I resisting something I enjoy doing so much? Am I really even a writer, as I supposed? Was writing the first one just […]
I just finished reading book two in the Sword of Truth series, Stone of Tears. and it’s got me thinking. [If you haven’t read Stone of Tears you should stop right now because what follows is full of spoilers. If you have, or if you never plan on reading it than proceed…] Because awful, awful, […]
This isn’t really a book entry – but it is a story entry. It’s definitely an interesting point of view on the stories we’re living and, therefore, I think worth remembering and/or discussing. How Bad Habits Create Boring Stories I’ve a friend who helps people plan and organize their lives so they can get greater […]