Previous || Next Few elements of style can harm your work the way an overbusy, cluttered sentence can. But reading about cluttered sentences from a theoretical standpoint is one thing -- seeing one such sentence is entirely different. Let's construct a glorious Example: My ratonnastick, being a perfectly good fellow at heart who always knew... Continue Reading →
This review was originally published over at booknest.eu. Published by: HarperVoyager (2010 ed.)Genre: Sci-Fi, FantasyPages: 296Format: paperbackAwards: Hugo Award for Best Novel (1968)Copy: Picked up at my local library. Support your libraries, folks! His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and... Continue Reading →
This is the Diary of High Imperial Supreme Sourceror, Sheikh, Sovereign, Suzerain and Ship Captain Maus. If lost and found, please return to: The City (capital of The Empire), 0000, Imperial Palace, Seat of the Empire, Throne Room. Any of them is alright, really. Upon return, you shall be rewarded, and promptly murdered for having... Continue Reading →
After Sir Terry Pratchett passed away, I thought to honour him by exploring his Discworld in a chronological order. Moving Pictures was where my ten-book long Discworld reading spree came to an abrupt end, sometime in 2015--or was it 2016?--I really wish I'd recalled. Something about the beginning of this book didn't click with me back... Continue Reading →
If you missed Part one of this chapter, click here. CREATING YOUR HERO ...is a complex process that requires a number of steps. The most important outlook you need to have is that you must build the character in layers. Step 1: Meeting the Requirements of a Great Hero Make sure that your hero meets... Continue Reading →
Another Monday, another Top Ten List! I've been reading and thinking about magical weapons, sentient swords, talking scythes and so decided to do another one of my favourite little lists! If I get an arsehole of a wielder, I'm going to pretend that I'm just your normal, every-day magical sword. No sign of sentience from... Continue Reading →
Welcome back to my summary of 'The Anatomy of Story' by John Truby. Today we'll take a look at Chapter 3, which deals with the steps of story structure. Let's get to it! When we talk about the structure of a story, we talk about how a story develops over time. A story has a... Continue Reading →
There are many ways to start the writing process. Some writers prefer to do it by breaking the story in its seven primary steps--to be explored in Chapter 3. Most begin with the shortest expression of the story as a whole, the premise line. The premise is your story stated in one sentence. As soon... Continue Reading →
Early on, when I first started sharing my writing, a number of people gave me the following advice: Show, don't tell. That's good advice, I thought; it helped me in identifying a particular weakness my writing had at the time. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that this particular piece of... Continue Reading →
How do we create memorable characters? Well, you'd need a dozen eggs, a bit of vanilla and seventeen cups of sugar to make your average Mary Sue; or you could whip yourself good old-fashioned one-dimensional characters by doing the same thing you'd do to get stale bread -- don't spend any time cooking them up... Continue Reading →
The Grimoire Reliquary 