Tag: plot

What Star Trek Can Teach Us About Great Writing

Last night I watched the new Star Trek movie directed by J.J. Abrams for the second time. As a writer, stories are my business, so I study them in all forms. Film is a favorite in that it takes far less time and allows me to study the written form in a visual way. I …

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Beware the Bog of Backstory

Think of it this way, if a guy is holding a gun to your head to take your car, do you really care about the childhood trauma that made him turn to crime? Uh…no. But basically that is what we do to the reader when we interrupt the flow of action to shift back in time and explain.

Setting–More than a Backdrop

Keep perspective and blend. Keep conflict and character center stage and the backdrop in its place…behind the characters.

One Ingredient to Make Your Fiction Timeless

To create riveting fiction we must put our characters in real danger continuously. They just about solve one problem only to realize they opened a door to a new and even worse problem.

Writers–Embrace the Weirdness

Writing is more than word count, although you do have to sit your butt in a chair and get it done. Crappy writers never run out of drivel to put on a page. The great writers are always working even beyond the desk chair. They read, watch movies, eavesdrop and their minds are only gently tethered to this plane.