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Category Archives: Exercises

Free Titles

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Titles come easily to me.
Maybe it has something to do with the way I was introduced to creative writing back in the Fifth Grade, but titles have always been easy for me. Our teacher used to put up titles on the board and we had to write stories that were based on that title. So, [...]

Also filed in Criticism, Marginalia, and Notes, Fiction and Its Kin, Ideas and Suggestions, Writing | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Magna Carta Two

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

As I mentioned in a previous post, here’s my Magna Carta II.
Okay, again, just in case you jumpped in here at the last minute and haven’t read anything else, Chris Baty talked about two Magna Cartas of noveling in his NaNoWriMo primer No Plot No Problem. The first is all the things I think go [...]

Also filed in Criticism, Marginalia, and Notes, Experimental, Fun, NaNoWriMo, News and Current Events, Writing | Tagged | Comments (0)

Magna Carta One

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

As I mentioned in a previous post, here’s my Magna Carta I.
Well, just to refresh your memory, Chris Baty talked about two Magna Cartas of noveling in his NaNoWriMo primer No Plot No Problem. The first is all the things I think go into a good novel. (That’s what this one is.) And the second [...]

Also filed in Art, Criticism, Marginalia, and Notes, Fiction and Its Kin, NaNoWriMo, Personal, Writing | Tagged | Comments (0)

Month-long Writing Exercise

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Yes, I’m going to make a feeble attempt at NaNoWriMo.
With my work schedule and the rate at which my friends are having emotional breakdowns, I sincerely doubt that I’ll actually find a way to get 50,000 words out in a single month, but I’m going to give it a go.  I’ll post my personal guidelines, [...]

Also filed in Criticism, Marginalia, and Notes, Experimental, NaNoWriMo, Personal, Writing | Tagged | Comments (0)

Fantasy Writers

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Looking for a free forum for fantasy writers?
Well, I don’t have one here, yet, but there is one at FantasyWriters.org. As always with writers, there’s a lot here to read through, but it all seems to be worth it. Of course, I think that anything which helps me get more creative or more inspired to [...]

Also filed in Fantastic and Surreal, Fantasy, Fiction and Its Kin, Technique, Things to Read, Writing | | Comments (0)

Articles on Writing

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

So, not too long ago, I brought you a link to an on-line course in writing.
But, by now, I’m betting you’re ready for more stuff on writing science fiction and fantasy. Well, even if you’re not, I found a table of contents on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website that has all [...]

Also filed in Fantastic and Surreal, Fantasy, Fiction and Its Kin, Ideas and Suggestions, Science Fiction, Technique, Things to Read, Writing | Tagged , | Comments (1)

Characterization Made EZ

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Building characters is as easy as writing their biography.
Okay, so maybe that’s not quite as easy as it sounds at first. The first step to knowing about what your character is going to do is knowing who they are and where they’ve been. What was their start in life? How has that shaped their desires, [...]

Also filed in Adventure Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction and Its Kin, Games, Ideas and Suggestions, Modern Fantasy, Things to Read, Writing | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Plot Condensed

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Or, why I like comic books and cartoons.
To put it quite simply, I like the way these two art-forms condense and compress plot. Think about it for a minute. A comic book, or graphic novel, has considerably less room to develop a deep, complex plot than, say, a literary work because a lot of space [...]

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