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Category Archives: Technique

Happy Birthday, Bill.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Today is William S. Burroughs‘ birthday.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri on this day in 1914, he is best known for having written Naked Lunch, which was later turned into a movie that starred Peter Weller. Burroughs started writing while attending Harvard, but when a piece of his was rejected by Esquire magazine, he was so [...]

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

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 [...]

Also filed in Art, Exercises, Fiction and Its Kin, Fun, Things to Read, Writing | | Comments (0)

Write SF & Fantasy

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Ever wanted to write science-fiction and fantasy fiction but didn’t know where to start?
Well, there’s hope. While wasting time at work the other day, I found a free on-line course in writing science-fiction called, oddly enough, Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy. This website is an entire course on writing in the genre available for no [...]

Also filed in Adventure Fantasy, Exercises, Fantastic and Surreal, Fantasy, Fiction and Its Kin, Science Fiction, Writing | Tagged | Comments (0)

Indecision

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

I know why I have such trouble starting stories.
The answer came to me while reading someone else’s blog: Chad Fowler. He was talking about the book he’s working on and his observations of other people who want to write books. His observation, which I thought was dead on accurate, was that most [...]

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

Archetypes and Symbols: An Experiment

Thursday, May 5, 2005

I need strange, metaphorical symbols.
I’ve been thinking about surreal imagery lately. Things like the anthropomorphic caterpillar from Disney’s version of “Alice in Wonderland” and the dancing mushrooms from “Fantasia” keep popping into my head as wonderful symbols of some strange story that’s hiding just below the surface of the “real” story. And, too, [...]

Also filed in Art, Experimental, Fantastic and Surreal, Fiction and Its Kin, Fun, Games, Personal, Writing | Tagged | Comments (0)

Exercise: Borrowed Working Titles

Monday, May 2, 2005

Here’s a variation on last week’s writing exercise.
Instead of using a “cliched” title or phrase, use the title from one of your favorite books or authors. Of course, you must write a totally different story than the one associated with your chosen title, but that can be half the fun. For example, you [...]

Also filed in Criticism, Marginalia, and Notes, Exercises, Experimental, Famous Authors, Ideas and Suggestions, Writing | Tagged | Comments (0)