On Building Suspense and Creating Tension

Hi Folks, I recently listened to a 6-week classic workshop from WMG Publishing titled “Adding Suspense.” It was a useful workshop, but it became much more useful once I subsitituted “tension” for “suspense” as the instructor, Dean Wesley Smith, spoke. The substitution enabled me to separate the suspense that is an aspect of fiction from the suspense that is the old genre (think Alfred Hitchcock) and that morphed into the modern thriller genre. Suspense remains also … Read more

Take Your Time: Part 3

Hey Folks, “Take your time” has almost become a mantra for me. I’ve pretty well mastered Heinlein’s Rules, especially the all-important Rules 1, 2 and 3. I’ve also pretty well mastered writing off into the dark, which means keeping my conscious, critical mind (the hell) out of my writing. Yet even as I’m writing, I have to remind myself occasionally to slow down, calm my mind and my characters, and record parts of the story that … Read more

If You’re a Writer, Write

Hi Folks, While so many are attending monthly writers’ group or crique group meetings, rehashing the same tired advice writers have been swapping and kicking around for years, I write. While so many spend hours, days, months or even years outlining and researching and rewriting and polishing and doing any number of other kind’a sort’a writing-related things that aren’t actual writing… I write. And while so many actively search for (and find) any of myriad other … Read more

What Writing Into the Dark Really Is

Hi Folks, Especially if you think you already know what WITD is, please don’t skip this topic. If you do know, you will have lost only a few minutes. If you don’t, this might open up a whole new world to you. Karen, an excellent storyteller, wrote a comment on my Daily Journal back in  April. I responded, albeit briefly, because if someone takes the time to comment and the comment seems to beg a response, … Read more

Cycling vs. Editing or Revising, Revisited

Hey folks, I was handed this post on a silver platter by a commenter back in April over on my Daily Journal. Huh. I almost wrote “on the proverbial silver platter,” but to my knowledge there is no silver platter mentioned in Proverbs. Anyway, the commenter wrote “Cycling requires a tremendous amount of trust from the creative side. That you’re not going to meddle with the story unnecessarily….” I omitted much of her comment, but she … Read more

Priorities

Hey Folks, f you’re going to be a professional anything, you have to make that anything a priority. If you’re still in the workforce, that priority is set for you if you want to continue to draw a paycheck. If you’re a cop, you have to put on the uniform once a day and go clean up human dregs. If you’re a mechanic or a construction guy, you have to show up at a particular time … Read more

On Being a Hybrid Writer, Part 2

If you missed Part 1 of this post, you can see it HERE or HERE. Hey Folks, To continue briefly with the discussion I started re traditional publishers, I have two motivating factors: One is the possibility that lightning will strike in the form of a large paycheck. Yeah, that would be nice. Two, at the moment I’m not wanting to expend the effort to publish my own paperback version of my books. Nor do I … Read more

On Being a “Hybrid” Writer

Hi Folks, At 66 years old, with 40-some novels and almost 200 short stories under my belt, I’ve decided to go hybrid. I’m announcing it here, publicly, because it’s a major personal policy shift for me and because it might be something for others to think about. To be clear, this isn’t something I recommend, but it’s something I recommend looking into. Part 1: Statement, History and Rationale My work has been traditionally published before. I’ve … Read more

Ignore Name Calling (Be Proud of What You Choose to Do)

Hey Folks, When my young son came home from school quietly wiping tears from his eyes one day, I asked what was wrong. Turns out some of the other kids at school in our gang-infested town had called him a “bastard” as he was walking home. Not for any particular reason, but just to be jerks. Kids do that sometimes. That word carries an unfortunate and untrue stigma, that a person born out of wedlock is … Read more

Let Your Characters Live Their Own Lives

Hey Folks, First, an excerpt from another professional writer’s post: “…writers should strive to make each plot point arise organically from character.” Later in the same post, the writer talks about a character living an “unauthentic” life. I don’t wonder. As I write this, I’ve seen too many Nationwide Insurance commercials lately. My first thought as I read the excerpt above was “Tiny baby shoes. So close.” (grin) If only the blogger had written “writers should … Read more