The infamous writing prompt. Meant to provide a creative ‘floor’ from which the writer may spring forward! (Little DST humor there.) Thing is, I find writing prompts amusing, but not helpful in their intended purpose. I don’t use them to start writing. Instead, I sometimes use them to plug in…
Writers sometimes struggle with sayings. By ‘sayings’ I refer to proverbs, quotes, pithy comments, and the like. Do we use them in a story? Not use them? Use a bastardized or hilariously-twisted version of them instead? In some cases a good saying can draw the reader in. Other times, a…
The Ancient Traditions that Somehow Combined (Voltron-Style) into Modern-Day Christmas Few things are more hilarious than misinterpretation. And you know one thing we love to misinterpret? The holidays! Christmas wasn’t always a giant commercial-fest loaded with toys, high-powered lights, and furious sale-hunting. It’s only the latest incarnation of a long,…
If you’ve read fiction longer than 1 hour in your life, you’ve come across a writing stereotype. Old, tired, yet somehow still kicking, writing stereotypes are those ‘easy shortcuts’ some authors take to jerry-rig a plot or cut back on actual writing effort. Cliché characters. Transparent plot “twists.” You know…
I went shopping the other day. Since I didn’t have anything urgent to buy, I figured I’d try a new store that just opened up. Not sure what their deal was, but the inventory was a bit…wrong. Soup bones? They had a lot of those. Why did they hang them…
Last time I talked about spurring creativity. Very helpful, regardless of your objective. (The article’s right here if you missed it.) So, following said advice, we’ve had a good creative soak. The ideas have congealed into an appealing mass. You start the work spinning said mass into something real. Then…
The popularity of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki character amuses me. Not for the acting (he does a fine job!), but for the attention it’s brought Loki. You probably knew this, but Loki didn’t start out as a Marvel villain. He’s an actual god from Norse/Viking mythology. Of what is he the…
“Mom, where did you get the recipe?!” I shouted into the phone. Panic edged the words and shook my fingers. That only made the fluttering in my chest grow. My eyes darted around the room. Scraping sounds came from behind the door. Silence came. Mom hadn’t picked up the call…
If you’re anything like me (I hope not) you’ve tried about a hundred tricks for spurring creativity. When you want to come up with the next brilliant idea, the next dazzling piece of artwork…and you end up blinking at a screen. I have to say, a live wire to the…
Yes, it’s true. I have a special surprise today, for you, my readers. No, it doesn’t involve trapdoors or exploding boxes. (If anyone knows where I can get those in bulk though…) I like to think people enjoy my books. Reviews tend to back that up, overall. If you have…
