Stephen King once said, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” He's right of course. The only way to improve as a writer is to learn from the best. I confess I read a lot -- a serious amount. But …
Tag: writing
Story by Numbers
Recently I bought Story by Numbers by Adam Skelter. I had watched a number of YouTube presentations on the "The Art of Story Channel" and was impressed with the quality of the presentations and movie analysis, and wanted to delve further into his approach to story development. First, a warning. Skelter uses some colourful language …
Plausibility – the biggest plot hole of all.
As a science fiction and fantasy writer it might seem odd for me to pick up on the idea that storylines should be plausible. After all, in the world of science fiction we have time travel, aliens, dystopian future worlds, mind control and many other implausible features in our writings. But we persuade our readers …
Continue reading Plausibility – the biggest plot hole of all.
The Heroine’s journey
Recently, I came across a book about "The Heroine's Journey" by Gail Carriger. It piqued my curiosity since I had done a lot of research the Hero's Journey and I wondered how the Heroine's journey could be different. Joseph Campbell was first to use the phrase, and his ideas where developed and expanded by Chistopher …
The protagonist’s world view
This month I want to look at some of the ideas in Lisa Cron's book, Story Genius. In one of the quotes from the book, she says: At its most basic, a story is about how someone grapples with a problem they can't avoid, and how they change in the process... Maybe that's a little …
Story structure simplified
Since I started this blog I have often visited the subject of story structure. It's one of those subjects that excites me. Some writers will throw their hands in the air in horror at the idea of structure. Story is emotion and there is no unique formula that will emote a feeling in reader. It …
Genre — reader expectations
A recent piece of advice I heard from a successful author was for new writers to focus their attention on their chosen genre. But what does that mean? I think it means to be successful you have to give your potential readers what they want. The problem however is discovering your potential reader base and …
Story Themes
I normally blog monthly, but I missed-out in December for personal reasons. For many, 2020 was an annus horribilis (horrible year) -- it was the year of the pandemic. But for me it was exceptionally sad. I lost two dear family members near the end of the year, one expected and one very unexpected. It …
The Writer’s Toolbox (ii)
In last month's blog, I looked at Scrivener, the primary tool I use for writing and publishing. This month I want to look at another tool, which is relatively new-- Plottr. Plottr, is essentially a time line planning tool. It allows you to quickly map out a story's timeline with scene cards. It also allows …
Daydeam Believer
Not many people are old enough to remember Daydream Believer. It was a single released by the Monkees in 1968 with lead singer Davy Jones and headed the US charts for four weeks. It's a catchy tune, with cryptic lyrics about a daydream believer and his homecoming queen. But I can still remember the chorus. …
JMJ Williamson 