Tag: character

“Why people read”

Dave Farland puts out this great e-newsletter called “Dave’s Daily Kick-in-the-Pants.” For the kick today, he suggested the following exercise: You probably have a good idea about what you want to write—horror, mainstream, fantasy, historical, romance, westerns, religious fiction, and whatnot. Sit down for ten minutes and on the left-hand side of your paper, list… Continue reading “Why people read”

something

So…I figure it’s been a week and I should probably post something on this blog. Wow. Well, work is underway on Ashes of the Starry Sea, and I’m starting to have a love-hate relationship with it.  Most writers say you first novel isn’t that good, and you just need to get it out of your… Continue reading something

Hero in the Shadows by David Gemmell

Waylander gave up his dark life as an assassin years ago–or so he thought.  When an ancient magic gateway begins to break down and evil beings from another world set out to reconquer the lands of Kydor, Waylander finds himself caught up once again in the cycle of war and bloodshed. Waylander joins forces with… Continue reading Hero in the Shadows by David Gemmell

Outlining for a discovery writer

I’m almost finished with the rough draft of Bringing Stella Home, but I can’t shake the feeling that this draft really sucks and is full of holes.   Part of that is probably that I wrote the whole thing  out of the top of my head.  The only part that I really took the time to… Continue reading Outlining for a discovery writer

Genesis Earth pitch and other assorted thoughts on writing

Today I got together with Charlie after her work and discussed how to pitch my novel Genesis Earth.  We did it in the following way: I took a few minutes to explain what the book was about, while she wrote down the words that stood out and excited her.  Later, I took the words and… Continue reading Genesis Earth pitch and other assorted thoughts on writing

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

What would you do if you knew that the world was going to end in the next thirty years? That one day, before the end of your natural lifespan, the oceans will boil and the forests burst into flames, and life on this planet will come to an end? That you, your children, and even… Continue reading Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

New directions

This past week, I’ve been going through Bringing Stella Home at quite a good clip.  I’m going through the rough draft as I had it at the end of April, making some major revisions that hopefully are going to make it easier to write the middle section.   I’ve been going along at a good clip,… Continue reading New directions

Ugh. Just ugh.

Man, it was hard to write.  So hard, I only just finished, and it’s 1:30 am.  Ugh. The reason it was hard was because the character’s reactions in this scene needed to be totally revamped.  That also necessitated a complete shift in the structure of the writing, because the rough draft consisted almost entirely of… Continue reading Ugh. Just ugh.