In the last few weeks or so I’ve mentioned what kinds of endings and what kinds of hopeful stories I like. I’ve come to the conclusion that there are three elements which create, for me, a fully satisfying story: they inform each other, and if just one of them fails, then the story fails toContinue reading “On laws of narrative satisfaction”
Category Archives: attitude
On endings and their weave
Everyone knows that endings are important in stories; this fact isn’t new. What kind of ending can make or break a series; and when it breaks, well. There’s a reason we have the saying ‘jumping the shark’. Not all endings will satisfy everyone, but neither will all stories: a person’s individual taste doesn’t necessarily meanContinue reading “On endings and their weave”
On mediums and The Novel
With her permission, I’m using my coauthor as an example today. So, my coauthor is a phenomenal writer. When she’s writing at her best, she has such emotion and humour, and has techniques I honestly love to emulate. The thing is that when she’s writing at her best, she isn’t writing novels. She’s roleplaying. WeContinue reading “On mediums and The Novel”
On disruptions to my digital environment
This week was a crapshoot. Not even totally for the obvious reasons — though the terrorist attack didn’t help — but because of the cumulative effect of some things both predicable and not. On the predictable side, a friend went into the hospital for some non-major surgery, so I was driving back and forth aContinue reading “On disruptions to my digital environment”
Happy New Year
I was very busy yesterday spending digital time with my heartfriends, and forgot that it was (for me) Friday. Didn’t prepare anything in particular, don’t have much to say. This year’s going to be rough, as things are when you’re still crawling, but it will be better than the last if only because now weContinue reading “Happy New Year”
On word counts as a writing tool
Last year — 2019 — I wrote over a half-million words for the year on novelised fiction. It was the first time I’d recorded doing that. If I’d been counting all the words written while roleplaying casually and discussing story and plots with my co-author, it would’ve been a lot more than my eventual countContinue reading “On word counts as a writing tool”
On nurturing creativity with silence
“I don’t want to be the person who always talks about writing and never does.” Be honest. How often do you talk about something, probably fun or exciting, something you genuinely want to do, genuinely mean to do, which then doesn’t happen? If you’re a writer especially, probably a lot. See, writers talk a lot.Continue reading “On nurturing creativity with silence”
On having nothing to say
Or, as I said to my friends, ‘haha brain poop’. This week is a week when my intake valves are set firmly on ‘omnom’ cycles: feeding on creative fiction rather than output it. The fact it’s felt good as well as indulgent probably says something … Anyway, Book 4 of Broadsides is coming along, finally,Continue reading “On having nothing to say”
On frontloading editing
Slightly late post this week. A friend gifted me with the Destiny 2: Beyond Light legendary edition and suffice to say we were ever so slightly distracted. It’s proven a decent incentive though, because this week I’ve been focusing on finishing out the first edits for the fourth book of Broadsides, and my greatest regretContinue reading “On frontloading editing”
On emasculating ourselves with negative humour
Stand up (or sit down) if you’ve ever made a joke about needing a friend to stand over you with a whip and chair to make you write. Or about being easily distracted. Even with other stories instead of the one you’re ‘meant’ to be writing. Or about procrastination. Or about being unable to finish.Continue reading “On emasculating ourselves with negative humour”
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