During this past year, IRL (in real life) got crazy. There were highs, lows, many near misses, and a fair few crashes. Call me Phoenix – I’m still rising from the ashes. Luckily, I’m surrounded by those I love and who love me. Not everyone can put up with a Crazy Cat. When I did […]
I got quite a surprise when writing today. One of my characters is gay. I didn’t set out to write him that way. It seems he had a lover who has left him. A personal betrayal, it’s also a betrayal that affects the larger story. There was only one problem. I had no idea how […]
Choices define us. They direct the paths we build on our journeys through life. Even if the choices of others affect us, we still choose our reaction to those choices. Imagine then, that someone makes a deliberate choice to covertly shape our lives. That choice, unbeknownst to us, constrains all of our future choices. We […]
Our normal impulse is to avoid pain. However many of us unknowingly chase after the very thing that causes it. Not only that, but when pain comes, we rarely blame the source. Instead, we blame ourselves, believing that we must have done something to deserve it. That’s a dangerous road, fraught with slippery slopes. No […]
I like to think that we are all connected in a single never-ending story, having an infinite number of chapters; each told from infinite points of view. Some of us take experiences from that story and weave them into finite fictional ones for readers to enjoy. I’ve taken threads from the never-ending story and woven […]
It is a physical law that energy is neither created or destroyed. In spite of that, my energy disappeared. Fatigued beyond belief, I screeched to a full stop. To my surprise, my energy replenished itself and even grew. Then I understood – my energy hadn’t really disappeared, it had simply been spread out across too […]
Yep, here’s another one in my bait-n-switch meme. Not those kind of lines… The ones I’m talking about are storylines. Why are they called that? Lines are boring. Once drawn, they just sit there. Doing nothing. Whomever named them should change the name. Instead, I see story waves. Each made up of rising action, climax, falling […]
For the past two years, I used a post close to the new year to measure my progress against my goals. Not this year – it’s far too exciting to look ahead. I’m learning publishing in the same way I learned writing – step by step. The business of publishing is in the midst of […]
Wishing you a Beautiful Season and a Bountiful New Year. May you be surrounded by love, and may all your dreams come true.
Last week, I had a crisis of confidence. I suppose it had to happen, but I also sincerely hope never to have another. But now that I’ve survived it, I’m ready to embrace my understanding of storycraft. I won’t say that I’ve mastered storycraft, because I believe that I – or any other author – […]
