I confess! I swiped this Body Language Cheat Sheet for Writers from Archtype Writing.com–a website that bills itself as “The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Psychology” … but they told me I could reproduce it freely for educational purposes, so I guess that keeps things legal. 😉 Either way, it was too good to pass up […]
Writing Dialogue
September 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Dialogue adds immense interest to a story, but dialogue is hard to write. I don’t mean that it’s hard to write words that sound like real people talking, though that’s true too. What I’m talking about today is the not-so-simple mechanics of typing dialogue onto the page and punctuating it properly. Let me give you […]
Crafting Better Beginnings
September 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
(Part One) Examples on Stowing Away the Back Story and Cleaning Up Information Dumps Which opening is better? This one? There once was a prince named Erasté in a faraway land called Trevelyan. His father, King Elián Ruelle, was a kind a gracious ruler, loved by all — all but one. Faeries dwelt in the […]
Writing Lesson 3.23_ Beginning with Theme in Mind
February 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I recently viewed a movie with a refreshingly brilliant script. Sadly I can’t recommend the movie by title because Hollywood felt compelled to add explicit scenes, but let me see if I can describe why the movie impressed me. The writer began with the theme in mind: “Communication is more about understanding each others’ hearts […]
Writing Lesson 2.29 – Dialogue: To Attribute or Not to Attribute?
April 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
“That is the question,” said . . . er . . . mused Jack. As you prepare your entries for the upcoming contest, consider the way you use dialogue. Have you read books where every snippet of dialogue ends with “he said” or “she said”? These phrases become boring and redundant. I’ve heard that our […]
