The Art of Story Mechanics
by Kate Heartfield
That moment of freeing myself from rigid concepts of right and wrong was also a useful reminder about storytelling.
Archive for the ‘The Craft of Writing’ Category
Odyssey Workshop Open for Applications
News from the nonprofit Odyssey Workshop: ODYSSEY RESIDENTIAL SIX-WEEK WORKSHOP FOR FANTASY, SCIENCE FITCTION, AND HORROR WRITERS NOW TAKING APPLICATIONS Just the facts summary: Who: Writers of Fantasy, SciFi, and Horror who want to improve their skills through in-depth instruction and feedback from Jeanne Cavelos, a bestselling author and a former senior editor at Bantam […]
How to Know When You Are Done Revising
by Cat Rambo
One question comes up more than any other when I teach writing: how do I know when a piece is ready for submission?
2017 Odyssey Writing Workshop Announced
This summer’s workshop runs from JUNE 5 to JULY 14, 2017. Class meets for over four hours each day, five days a week, for both workshopping and lectures.
Why Five?
by Dennis Mathis
A new hyper-detailed neurological atlas identifies 862 different structures making up the human brain. What are the odds that only five of them are about detecting reality?
The Perils of the Flood
by Gargi Mehra
When 2015 dawned upon us one year ago, I, like all reasonable writers, penned down certain resolutions. One of them was to test the oft-repeated advice doled out on most, if not all, writing websites – write a fixed quota of words every day.
Odyssey Online Classes Announced
This winter, writers can level up their skills in three key areas through live, intensive online classes offered by the Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust. Odyssey is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit known worldwide for offering some of the best in-person and online programs for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror.
Brood For Thought: On The Enduring Appeal Of The Moody Male Lead
by Rosalind Moran
The moody male lead is widespread throughout all genres, but it can be difficult to see why anybody would want to spend time with him. He’s brooding, exceedingly individualistic, melancholic, and disposed to hanging around outdoors during thunderstorms for no good reason beyond cultivating his mystique.
Horses Are Not Machines: On Writing the Steeds of Fantasy Fiction
by Rosalind Moran
A regrettable trend across much fantasy writing is that of a horse not really being a horse, but simply a plot device; a vehicle to help carry a story along. Horses, however, are not vehicles.
Teaching Stuff: Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic
by Richard Chwedyk
Here’s an assignment I give my students:
They receive a copy of the first chapter of H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds.
It is roughly 2,250 words.
I tell the students that Mr. Wells has just received a note from his editor. “Great stuff, Herbie, but you go on too long here. Cut this first chapter in half.”
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