Whether you’re writing exposition, opinion, or fiction, you want your prose to have power. There are a number of maxims about this, for example the dictum to prefer the active voice and strong, active verbs. Another is the advice to avoid overdecorating your sentences with modifiers and subordinate clauses – i.e., to let your …
Category: technique
May 13 2024
How It’s Done Dept.
Some fiction writers consciously strive to keep their readers off-balance, groping for a purchase on what’s really happening in the story. This can be boiled down to an actual technique. The key, of course, is surprise. There are several kinds of surprise in fiction. There are plot surprises, where an event that seems …
Apr 21 2024
“They Won’t Talk To Me!”
The news is pretty static just now, and I haven’t done a piece about fiction lately, so have a fresh one. There are a lot of approaches to the conception of a story. What matters is the emotional impact of the product, and oftentimes that’s more a function of the writer’s imagination and …
Feb 14 2024
An Observation About Characterization
Regard the following snippet from a novella from P. S. Power: “It’s a danger of taking responsibility for others, of course. A strong leader might have to make decisions that others wouldn’t. I can’t even tell you it’s wrong for you to be doing it. Just be careful. Taking on too much at …
Fran’s Recent Novels
Margaret’s Recent Novels
