New Year’s Enigma
The more I tell myself New Year’s Eve doesn’t matter to me, the more I realize it does. That’s the power of negative suggestion. The more you tell yourself not to think about something the more you do (quick, try not to think of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man).
I try to roll my eyes at the Calendar, thinking the New Year is just another number; an arbitrary changing of the digits, a human construct with as much meaning as daylight savings. It’s still going to be cold in Minneapolis on January 2. Nothing significant is going to change, but that’s the thing that always gets under my skin. It isn’t merely about the festivities of the evening. It’s about how much distance I’ve put between this version of myself and the one from the year before. Continue reading How to Make Practical New Year’s Resolutions →
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We writers are always told to never quit our day jobs, but day jobs can have a dramatic effect on our creative output.
Sales employees have to put their brightest faces forward, give their firmest handshakes, and work their damnedest to mirror their clients. Reps have to know which way their buyers are leaning before the buyers do. Reps have smile through rejection and nod through micromanagement. When sales reps come home all that time spent aligning with their clients’ concerns has left them emotionally exhausted.
The last thing salespeople want to do is to have to deal with fictitious people’s needs, with their own urgent needs and unresolved conflict. So how do those of us with aspirations beyond our current functions make good on our dreams? How do we find the time to write around our responsibilities? Continue reading How Writers can Trick Themselves into Working After Work →
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In honor of Star Wars: The Force Awakens I wanted to explore world building in fiction. I’m going to talk about how mapping your world can can guide you out of writer’s block. This map not an outline of your story, nor is it a bible filled with character details. It’s a cultural guide for your community, an anthology of your universe’s mythology, and an atlas of your setting.
Don’t think of this writing exercise as a satellite image, fixed and defined, think of it as dots on a treasure map with space for further details. Your world map isn’t meant to chart your story’s space. It’s meant to give you options worth exploring. Not only is it a great way to get ideas off the ground, when you don’t have a premise, it’s a great way to help you come up with the next story in the series. Continue reading How Writers can Create Their Own Galaxies Far Far Away →
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Plot driven stories focus on external conflict. Character driven stories focus on inner turmoil. Plot driven stories are more situational than personal. While characters may evolve in plot driven stories, they never change as much as the world around them. Plot driven stories are action oriented. Characters don’t have the luxury of self examination before they make decisions. Their situation is too urgent.
The plot driven story approach is ideal for fast paced globe trotting adventures, sci-fi fantasies, and anything with a clock counting down to Armageddon. That’s why most blockbuster movies take the plot driven approach. It keeps the characters in danger and makes the audience feel like they’re on a rollercoaster.
The problem with plot driven stories is when their fast pace leaps over gaps in the plot. Continue reading What’s My Motivation? Why Writers Need to Motivate All of Their Characters →
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Advice for writers, stories about the world they live in.
