Consider This: Coping
In this first of a series of new craft essays, Chuck Palahniuk displays a method for helping your characters cope against dramatic situations. He also delves into the language of singing, mantras and the importance of a good scream.
Beautiful Void: The Importance of Implied Narrative
By BH Shepherd
Details are important, but so is what you leave out. A look at the subtle art of untold stories.
It's Made Of SCIENCE: Aliens
Everything you need to know about aliens, the biological definition of life, and SCIENCE!
Storyville: Dissecting "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates
In:
Character, Joyce Carol Oates, Literary Devices, Plot, POV, Research, Setting, Short Stories, Storyville, Structure
One of the most talked about, published and taught stories, I dissect "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates.
Symbolism: Storytelling and the Invisible Hand
Symbolism allows writers to get themselves off the page and lets their words do the talking.
It's Made Of SCIENCE: Multiple Personalities
What you need to know about the dissociative identity disorder, multiple personalities, and SCIENCE.
It's Made Of SCIENCE: The Speed Of Light
What you need to know about the speed of light, faster-than-light travel, and SCIENCE.
It's Made Of SCIENCE: Writing Characters That Are Smarter Than You
You might consider yourself intelligent, perhaps even enlightened, but nobody can know everything. How can you write characters that know more than you do?
Storyville: 15 Unconventional Story Methods
Here are 15 unconventional methods of telling a story. Why not stretch yourself?
Top 10 Storytelling Cliches Writers Need To Stop Using
By Rob Hart
There are certain storytelling clichés writers go back to again and again. And they shouldn't. Because they are terrible, and they need to be destroyed.
O-day ou-yay eak-spay ingon-Klay?: Exploring constructed languages
In:
Language, Literary Devices
What do the Starship Enterprise, Boonville California, and an Icelandic band all have in common? Their own language! Explore a few unique constructed languages with me.
Bringing the Lie to Life: What Your First Two Pages Can Tell You
Using particular details brings your lie to life.
6 Ways You're Molesting Your Metaphors
In:
Literary Devices, Metaphor
Including mixed metaphors, cliche metaphors, ambiguous implications, too close to literal, referencing outside the common experience, and over-extending your metaphors.
Understanding the Objective Correlative
One way to embed a central theme in a story is with the use of a literary device commonly referred to as the Objective Correlative.
Up Close and Personal: A Personality Expose of the Personal Essay
Get to know the Personal Essay by reading this article. Get to know yourself by writing one.
Storyville: Narrative Hooks
In:
Character, Craft, Dialogue, Literary Devices, Narrative Hooks, Plot, POV, Setting, Storyville, Structure
Writing a great narrative hook isn't easy, but it's one way to grab your audience and never let them go.
Art and the Aphorism
Love them or hate them, writers can learn a lot about sentence structure and wordplay by experimenting with the timeless artform of the aphorism.
The Benefits of Free Indirect Discourse
Writers who find themselves wrestling with point-of-view problems may want to consider a technique that combines the best of two narrative modes.
Transition As Metaphor
Incorporate these principles to not only transition smoothly from scene to scene, but to add a new layer of metaphor for the manipulation of meaning and theme.
Narrative and the Moving Image: What Film Can Teach Us About Fiction Writing
Fiction writers can learn a great deal about craft by examining some of the common storytelling techniques used in modern film.
Is This Your Card? How Michael Chabon Uses Suspense in Literary Fiction
A study of how Michael Chabon uses Suspense in literary fiction to keep the reader reading and to move the story forward.
The Heavy Hand of Didacticism
Why overwriting and needless instruction have a habit of killing a story every time.
False Starts, Dead Ends and Bad Beginnings: A Guide to Successful Storytelling Patterns
Why failing to establish clear narrative patterns or ignoring a story’s natural capacity to surprise can render an otherwise compelling work into an instant dud.
