The other night, as we were watching the latest incarnation of The Incredible Hulk, my daughter turned to me during two major fight scenes and said twice, "Why don't they just step out of the way?" They were, of course, the hapless soldiers dealing with the wrath of the Hulk and the Abomination. Hulk smashed. Abomination did his reptile thing. In both scenes, the gamma radiation misfits … [Read more...]
Slaying the Gatekeepers
Nine months is reasonable to wait for a baby. Nine months is reasonable to write a novel. However, nine months is not so reasonable to hear absolutely no response from a traditional publisher or agent on a work submitted for consideration. In the modern world of fiction writing, two major avenues exist for getting creative works to the reader. The first is the traditional publishing … [Read more...]
Black River – Prologue
Craxius heard words in the river. At first, he thought it was the other soldiers from the fortress laughing about the ambush. Then he was sure that it was the whispers of a band of Northerners sneaking up on the encampment of soldiers. Finally, he heard children singing. But it was only the water rushing against the stones. Craxius blew his breath to warm his hands. He was too old to be … [Read more...]
First Lines
Another piece of advice coming out of the Book Passage writer's conference was to look at the first lines of books to see how they both draw the reader in and already begin telling what the story is really like. Here are a few powerful first lines that I have recently come across. "From the twisting, smoke-filled clouds, blood rained down." -from Steven Erikson's Midnight Tides "The summer … [Read more...]
Who’s the Audience?
One of the often repeated rules of writing is: Know your audience. The idea behind this seemingly simple piece of advice is that as a writer you have to understand who it is you are writing for and what their expectations are and, that once you know your audience, it will be easier to write for them. So in my case, this apparent audience is kids between seven and ten years old and their … [Read more...]
Train Wreck!
This past weekend, Book Passage's annual Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference was interrupted by a train wreck. But luckily by the end of the four days, I had pulled myself out of the mangled wreckage of twisted metal and burning compartments, dusted the ash from my sleeves, and put one shaky foot in front of the other, back on the path to where I want to be heading. Everything … [Read more...]
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