Oy, my main website got hacked. Boo hiss. ANYWAY. There seems to be a trend toward community input these days. The general public has become the gatekeepers, and I think that’s okay. Things like indiegogo, Patreon, and Kickstarter allow people to support
The Midpoint Reversal and the Dark Moment
Another info sheet for you today, Squiders. I’m afraid I spent the time I would have used composing something else (oh well, Thursday I guess) was spent playing Lego Star Wars “with” the not-so-small one. (He held a controller and
Mother Characters in Scifi and Fantasy
There’s not a lot of mother characters as main characters in speculative fiction. I can think of exactly two in books that I read (Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly and Boneshaker by Cherie Priest). Part of me is sad, because there’s
The Inciting Incident
I’m running a storycraft meeting on inciting incidents tonight, Squiders, and since y’all liked my pacing info sheet so much, I thought I’d share my info sheet for inciting incidents as well. What is an Inciting Incident? An inciting incident
A Need For New Music (And a Call for Reviewers)
Okay, Squiders, I need your help today. I went to my old music standby, Grooveshark, the other day, which is where I’ve made my novel-specific playlists over the years, only to discover that it had been shut down (and in
The Changes of the Process (Part 2)
Along with the revision/editing post from Tuesday, I found a post about outlining from February of 2011. A little newer than the editing one, but still completely different from my current process. Again, for those too lazy to go back
A Surplus of Spare Time
I don’t know what to do with myself, Squiders. The husband and the no-longer-that-small, mobile one have gone on a father/son sort of trip, so aside from some contract work (~4 hours worth) and taking care of the very small,
The Inside of the Writing Mind
Oh, Squiders. How do we writers ever get anything done? We cannot concentrate on any one thing. We certainly try, don’t we? We pick a project and say “I am going to work on this until it is done.” Meanwhile,
The Power of Talking Through a Plot Problem
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
