The Tatooine Problem
Recently, I was watching some of the old Star Wars movies when they were on TV, and I noticed that…
Tag: craft
Crafting an Epic First Act with 4 Simple Parts
Storytelling is a complicated art. Perfection lies in nuances, and there’s a lot to think about. But crafting an epic…
Where to Place the Camera? Understanding Perspectives in Writing
People often compare perspective in writing to a film director choosing where to place the camera during a scene. This…
How to Write a Compelling Antagonist
A compelling antagonist makes a story great. They’re often as memorable as a protagonist is and connect viscerally with audiences.…
3 Tips for Writing Better Science Fiction
It’s been a while since I’ve talked about specialized craft, and today I want to focus on some important elements…
Writing Bold Dialogue
Dialogue is a challenging part of the writing process. There are complete books written on good dialogue, and many chapters…
Bridging Craft and Practice
I am almost 30,000 words into my NaNoWriMo novel. One lesson I learned about my writing is that rushed writing…
Respect Your Audience by Dumbing Down
Good writing is clear writing. A mistake common to authors is the idea that complicated ideas require complicated presentation. That…
Nonlinear Narratives and You
I’ve been talking about my bubble method of doing organization for a while now, but today I want to talk about something that’s useful for creative writers: nonlinearity.
Nonlinear stories can hold a lot of interest and have some practical advantages. It puts the storyteller entirely in control of pacing and the flow of information.
But it’s also difficult. The storyteller needs to be great at information control and keeping tones steady.
Choosing a Subject: Crisis
The crisis is the ultimate point of tension in a literary work. It’s when the big bad guy and the big good guy face off, and to the victor go the spoils.
If you want to write a story, you need a good crisis point.
In fact, when you leave a story feeling unfulfilled, it’s almost certainly because the climactic moment of the story didn’t live up to its role.
This is the third part in my series about narrowing down subjects for a creative writing project. Previously I discussed this with the initiation and development of a story.