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These days, many writers hope to create the immersive experiences they watch on a screen. Ironically, delivering the most immersive experience in writing depends on learning techniques that don’t exist in film. The narrative style writers need for this is close perspective. It’s not the … read more »
A hand with all of the fingers the same length. Eye whites that aren’t white. Seeing a stranger in the mirror. A subtler cousin of horror, the uncanny is more about discomfort than fear. Sigmund Freud* described it as, in greatly paraphrased form here, making … read more »
Stories need conflict, and when that conflict comes in the form of physical violence, it’s time for a fight scene. A well-written fight – whether it’s a fist-to-fist boxing match or a squadron of ace pilots clashing in the stratosphere – can be the highlight of … read more »
In many stories, we have male heroes who go on their adventures and while they travel have several sexual encounters, loveless sex, and being generally free when it comes to sexuality. I think it can be used well and serve the characterization, but the problem … read more »
I’m writing a story in first person, set in a world that has technology similar to ours, but also demons and magic (no masquerade). Magic is extremely limited in its use (which explains the need for tech), but is necessary to keep demons at bay. … read more »
This post-apocalyptic YA novel by James Dashner spawned not only bestselling sequels but also a movie series. A bad movie series, I hear, but they star Dylan O’Brien (aka Styles), so how bad could they be? I think the cover art is gorgeous, but I’m … read more »
When we do a content edit, we focus on the big-picture stuff first. There’s no point in nitpicking small things that might be rewritten anyway. However, we do run into lots of problems at the wordcraft level. To help everyone improve their prose, let’s go … read more »
How can I write sex scenes where the woman enjoys herself without seeming sexist? – Anon Read more »
This may come as a shock, but writers don’t always agree. When these disagreements are on the technical minutiae of wordcraft, it can be especially confusing to newcomers. Most newcomers just want to write respectable prose. So, how can you tell what that is when … read more »
In the beginning, a human told a story, and another human said it was not good. Thus was born the tradition of literary criticism, which is what we’re talking about today. We’ll discuss the different schools of criticism, whether reviews are a type of criticism, … read more »