Creating Heartbeats, Character Workshop Show don’t Tell There are plenty of quotes by plenty of writers advocating that the reader be brought into the story rather than sit passively on the side lines. What the characters do, say, act and think automatically achieve this. Let’s return to the situations we introduced our characters to. Their […]
Constructive Criticism
Exemplary Short Story Showing – don’t Tell.
Katherine Anne Porter 1890 – 1980 This is a short excerpt from one of our workshops. Spoiler Alert If you have not read Theft by Catherine Anne Porter, do so now . . . or just read the executive summary below . . . Theft by Catherine Anne Porter is interesting for three reasons: It […]
It’s the Character, stupid!
Consider this universal truth: Ever since the world began people have been dying.
‘Don’t you use that tone with me!’
Style, Tone and Mood. I sat listening to two people exploring the differences between ‘Style’, ‘Tone’ and ‘Mood’. They asked me my opinion, feeling they were losing me. I emptied the last of the wine into my glass, ‘Like they say in Thailand, “Same, same but different.” . . .’ Then I took out my […]
‘Dating is subtext, marriage is text’ . . .
HOOK THE READER. WRITE SUBTEXT TO ENRICH CHARACTER AND PLOT. I’m still hooked on Dr. Linda Seger’s book: Writing Subtext. In it she quotes psychotherapist and script consultant Dr. Rachel Ballon as saying, ‘Dating is subtext, marriage is text.’ When you think of the first date, of guessing what he/she really thinks, about being on […]
Feedback – and How Not to Be a Slime Ball.
Is feedback on a Work In Progress good for you as a writer? I think the short answer is that it depends on the length of the piece and on what the feedback is. It’s certainly important to provide some kind of context. A novel is long, some 90,000 words. Flash fiction has a beginning, […]