New in crime fiction: A guide to the latest mysteries and thrillers Trick of the DarkBy Val McDermid, Bywater Books, 397 pages, $24.95 Twenty-five books into a career, and Val McDermid seems to be just reaching her stride. Trick of the Dark is so smart, so witty and so devious, it’s difficult to find adequate praise. Just say that its the best of her already excellent run of novels. Charlie Flint is in a funk. Just in time to save herself, Charlie is summoned by her early mentor to her old college. TrackersBy Deon Meyer, translated by K.L. Deon Meyer kept readers page-bound with the thrills and suspense in his previous novel, Thirteen Hours. There are several plotlines going, and to give them heft, Meyer brings back two of his finest hunters, the bodyguard Lemmer from Blood Safari and Mat Joubert, now retired from the police force and facing his first case as a private investigator. The Hangman’s DaughterBy Oliver Pötzsch, translated by Lee Chadeayne, Houghton, Mifflin, 435 pages, $21.95 “October 12 was a good day for a killing.”
Plot Diagram The Plot Diagram is an organizational tool focusing on a pyramid or triangular shape, which is used to map the events in a story. This mapping of plot structure allows readers and writers to visualize the key features of stories. The basic triangle-shaped plot structure, representing the beginning, middle, and end of a story, was described by Aristotle. Gustav Freytag modified Aristotle's system by adding a rising action and a falling action to the structure. This interactive version of the graphic organizer supports both Aristotle's and Freytag's conceptualizations of plot structures. Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson Happily Ever After? By exploring the decisions points in a tragedy, students consider how the plot of the story can change if the key characters make a different choice at the turning point. Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Unit Id, Ego, and Superego in Dr. Dr. Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan Exploring Satire with Shrek After exploring Orson Welles' 1938 broadcast of H.
25 Virtues Writers Should Possess 1. A Wild And Unfettered Imagination This one goes up front: the bubbling turbid stew that comprises your brain-mind combo must possess an endless array of unexpected ideas. Your head should be an antenna receiving frequencies from the furthest-flung reaches of Known Creative Space. You want to survive, you’ve got to have an imagination that won’t lay down and die. 2. Given that we’re creative types prone to art-o-leptic fits of imagination, if we’re given no leash we’ll just wander off into the woods to create our masterpiece. 3. The only way you’re going to stay on target is if you believe this thing you want to do can actually happen. 4. By the same token, realistic expectations are the order of the day. 5. Here’s where you say, “Wait, wuzza? 6. I’ve always said that no matter the flavor of your writing career, it’s basically you putting a bucket on your head and running full force into a brick wall. 7. Writers are liars who use those lies to tell truths. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
10 ways not to be a travel writer – Lonely Planet blog It’s the dream: travelling around the world and getting paid for it. Every day, thousands of aspiring travel journalists start up blogs, pitch pieces to editors and put pen to paper (at least metaphorically) in the hopes of making travel a full-time job. Image by swimparallel, Flickr The good news is that it’s achievable. While only a select few attain the high life of sipping margaritas by the pool while churning out leisurely prose on their Macbooks, travel writing for a living is a real possibility for those who have the talent and are willing to put in some really, really hard work. However, we’ve noticed that there is a subclass of potential travel writers, photographers and video journalists who don’t really seem to have their heart in it. 10. Whether you’re pitching a 500-word essay to the New Yorker or dashing off a quick blog entry, you’re presenting your professional face to the world. 9. Use Facebook or personal blogs to reassure your mother and make your friends jealous. 8.
OokamiKasumi's Journal: Pep Talk from Neil Gaiman Chekhovs gun: a useful plot device. By Glen C. Strathy Chekhov's Gun is a plot device whereby you introduce an item in the first part of your novel that doesn't seem important to the story at the time, but takes on greater significance later on. Some writers try to follow this dictate very rigorously and avoid mentioning any object unless it will play a major role in the story, but that is really taking things too far. I believe Chekhov used the example of a gun because a gun isn't just any object. You violate the principle of Chekhov's Gun if you take the time to draw your reader's attention to an object, perhaps by a lengthy description of it or its history, in a way that makes it seem significant, and then never mention it again. So if you do draw attention to an object, your readers will expect this object to appear again. Here are several ways you can employ Chekhov's Gun: 1. The Harry Potter novels are a case where an author planned an entire series meticulously in advance. Mrs. 2. 3. Chekhov's Gun vs.
25 Things You Should Know About Storytelling 1. Stories Have Power Outside the air we breathe and the blood in our bodies, the one thing that connects us modern humans today with the shamans and emperors and serfs and alien astronauts of our past is a heritage — a lineage — of stories. Stories move the world at the same time they explain our place in it. They help us understand ourselves and those near to us. Never treat a story as a shallow, wan little thing. 2. We love to be entertained. 3. Segmentation. 4. Story is also not a square peg jammed in a circle hole. 5. You put your hand in a whirling clod of wet clay, you’re shaping it. 6. A story is so much more than the thing you think it is. 7. The storyteller will find no original plots. 8. The audience wants to feel connected to the story. 9. The audience isn’t stupid. 10. Conflict is the food that feeds the reader. 11. 12. It’s not just tension. 13. The story you tell should be the story you tell. 14. The audience cannot relate to big ideas. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.
25 Things Every Writer Should Know An alternate title for this post might be, “Things I Think About Writing,” which is to say, these are random snidbits (snippets + tidbits) of beliefs I hold about what it takes to be a writer. I hesitate to say that any of this is exactly Zen (oh how often we as a culture misuse the term “Zen” — like, “Whoa, that tapestry is so cool, it’s really Zen“), but it certainly favors a sharper, shorter style than the blathering wordsplosions I tend to rely on in my day-to-day writing posts. Anyway. Peruse these. Absorb them into your body. Feel free to disagree with any of these; these are not immutable laws. Buckle up. 1. The Internet is 55% porn, and 45% writers. 2. A lot of writers try to skip over the basics and leap fully-formed out of their own head-wombs. 3. 4. I have been writing professionally for a lucky-despite-the-number 13 years. 5. Luck matters. 6. Nobody becomes a writer overnight. 7. Your journey to becoming a writer is all your own. 8. 9. 10. Value is a tricky word. 11. 12.
25 Things You Should Know About Character Previous iterations of the “25 Things” series: 25 Things Every Writer Should Know 25 Things You Should Know About Storytelling And now… Here you’ll find the many things I believe — at this moment! 1. Without character, you have nothing. 2. A great character can be the line between narrative life and story death. 3. Don’t believe that all those other aspects are separate from the character. 4. The audience will do anything to spend time with a great character. 5. It is critical to know what a character wants from the start. 6. It doesn’t matter if we “like” your character, or in the parlance of junior high whether we even “like-like” your character. 7. It is critical to smack the audience in the crotchal region with an undeniable reason to give a fuck. 8. You must prove this thesis: “This character is worth the audience’s time.” 9. Don’t let the character be a dingleberry stuck to the ass of a toad as he floats downriver on a bumpy log. 10. 11. 12. 13. The law of threes. 15. 16. 17. 18.
(More) tips for writing well (Austin Govella at Thinking and Making) Published Wed, Jul 8, 2009 by Austin Govella. Updated Wed, Jul 8, 2009. As an editor, I’ve noticed several recurring bad habits you heathens would do well to disabuse yourselves of immediately. Almost without exception, these bad habits instantiate themselves as a series of stock phrases and constructions that reflect a lack of focus, a lack of fully developed argument, or the kind of intellectual laziness that sets in as you slog through your first draft. These things happen, That’s ok. 16 things to check when you edit Be vicious when you edit. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. After you edit… The finished piece should be so tight, terse, concise, and clear that it’s boring. Boring. Then sand off the rough edges. Write like you talk. The first 16 recommendations remove fluff and force you to think and communicate.
Character Trait Chart Character Trait Chart and Personality Components It can sometimes be helpful to make a Trait Chart for each character. This is especially helpful during the early stages of character development, before the character becomes as real to you as your mother. There are several charts of this sort available, some extremely detailed and some containing only facts and figures. I've tried to make one that includes the most important traits to help you visualize your character, both physically and emotionally. To use this chart, print it out and make a copy for each of your characters. Full name - a character's name is very important. Besides the character's official name, we also need to know what he is called (and, perhaps, what he prefers to be called). Date of Birth/Age - we should carefully consider assigning our character a birthday. Height - this doesn't need to be specific. Hair - keep in mind the character's ethnic background in assigning hair and eye color. Smell - everyone has a smell.
The Other Side of the Story: Need a Jump? Four Ways to Fix a Stalled Story By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Getting stuck happens to everyone, and there are plenty of ways to get stuck. The full on “ack, I can’t write a sentence” block, the “not sure where to go next” conundrum, the “I can’t figure out how to make this work” frustration. I recently dealt with one of those, especially in the third act. But they didn’t want to write. I finally realized it was because I knew what had to happen, but my characters weren’t feeling it. The plot was right there, chugging along just as I planned it to do. Sound familiar to anyone? For me, this is one of the more frustrating getting stuck issues. If you’re facing a stalled scene or story, ask yourself: 1. 2. 3. 4. A stalled story almost always ends up being a narrative drive issue in some way. Have you ever stalled a story?
15 Grammar Goofs That Make You Look Silly Grammar is one of the most debated subjects on the Internet. Trolls, know-it-alls and helpful grammar gurus all bring it up if they should stumble upon a comment, post or article that doesn’t really measure up to the English grammar rules. For someone who is not born or raised in a country where English is the native language, it can be hard to get the message across when you have to stumble along with grammar that doesn’t really make sense. However, that is no reason for someone to write negative comments about your illiterate ramblings. We all try to express ourselves through the spoken and written words that we have been exposed to through our upbringing. Some people find it easier to learn a language than others, and that is just how it is. However, there is a difference between trying and learning. It’s a list of 15 words that can be hard to distinguish if you are not used to their proper meanings. Via: [Visual.ly]