Category Archives: Writing Articles

Killing your darling characters

There are many darlings writers kill: words, scenes, characters or even complete story lines and books. Rather than look at the whole, I am going to focus on characters — they are often the hardest to visit death upon, whether by killing them in a novel or completely removing them from a manuscript. Let’s faceContinue reading “Killing your darling characters”

World-building: Resources

Anyone who has played Sid Meier’s Civilization or Age of Empires, will know all about the importance of resources. They determine what you can build, trade or sustain. Wars are fought over them: I know I’m guilty of this, taking out the French (in Civilization) for daring to set up a village and steal theContinue reading “World-building: Resources”

Character Series: Clothes make the man or woman

Clothes say a lot about a person, and it should be no different with characters. Albeit writers need to beware of info-dropping about clothing, or setting a character in front of a mirror just for said-character or narrator to go over ever inch of their appearance. However, little bits of description here and there aboutContinue reading “Character Series: Clothes make the man or woman”

World-building Series: Courting (Valentine Bonus)

As we celebrate the overly commercialized Valentine’s Day, I decided to do a themed piece for the day and settled on a world-building related topic, because to be honest, I’m not the most romantic person in the world so a how-to-write romance is a little out of my league. However, courtship is an important topicContinue reading “World-building Series: Courting (Valentine Bonus)”

Not All Animals Act Like Dogs

I cannot believe how many writers tend to give animals, largely horses, dog-like traits. Disney/Pixar is especially guilty of this — I could not help but groan that the horse in Tangled behaved so doggish, despite the fact that I knew it was done for humor. It is understandable why some writers have the animalsContinue reading “Not All Animals Act Like Dogs”

Pope resignation equals writer opportunity

As soon as the news broke that Pope Benedict XVI was resigning, the cogs in my head started to turn — the cogs that drive the writer and world-builder in me. I could not help but think what a perfect opportunity it is to observe, learn and possibly borrow and tweak practices to be usedContinue reading “Pope resignation equals writer opportunity”

World-building Series: Culture

While this may seem like putting the cart before the horse, when world-building, writers need to consider what their world’s cultures will look and feel like. This is a step some writers never fully realize, making their worlds feel like cardboard or a carbon copy of another world, built by another writer: Let’s face it,Continue reading “World-building Series: Culture”

!#$* $#*!: Writing expletives

Expletives, aka. profanity, can spice up dialogue; however, like all spices, you have to put in the right amount. Treated properly, profanity brings out a character or situation. Poured in, they only make the reader roll their eyes and groan. This topic comes about after I was sitting at an eatery and these teenage girlsContinue reading “!#$* $#*!: Writing expletives”

Character Series: Intro, plus family

Well, here is the start of another series that will at least run every Friday during February and then periodically the rest of the year: The Character Series. This series will look at the different touches that make a character feel real and gives them depth. Intro A couple years back, I recall a majorContinue reading “Character Series: Intro, plus family”