Author of Hopeful Speculative Fiction
This week, Vivian and I tackle the fascinating topic of propaganda, and how those in power manipulate the world through various forms of communication to maintain their power and enforce a status quo that keeps them at the top. We go through some definitions and strategies for recognizing and fighting propaganda, but of course, since … Read More “Worldbuilding & Writing 105: Propaganda” »
This week, I examine how to write human senses. I walk through the five basic human senses, focusing first on sight, hearing, and touch, which are the most common in writing (and our lives), looking at best practices in writing them, plus analyzing ways that the senses can be damaged or altered to create new … Read More “Writing 202: Writing Human Senses” »
This week, I examine practical ways of using fictoscience, which is a method of incorporating made up words in a way that makes sense and doesn’t devolve into technobabble. I provide two scenes as well as lists of suffixes that I used to create the various words in the new vocabulary of the world of … Read More “Practicum: Fictoscience in Fantasy” »
This week, Vivian and I explore humour in all of its forms! We start by examining what humour is and why we have it, then give a detailed list of as many types of humor as we could think of along with definitions, then naturally we dive into how to add humour to your stories: … Read More “Writing 201: Humour” »
When telling stories, there’s always the story as it appears from the outside as told explicitly through the text, but what about under the surface? Stories rely on unspoken knowledge and truths, and this blogpost defines and demonstrates subtext in fiction so that you can see how exactly to use it to your best advantage. … Read More “Writing 201: Subtext” »
Let’s face it, there’s a lot that goes into telling a good story. But one thing that can really make or break it is the dialogue. Throughout this explanation of dialogue and how to write it, I provide a space opera scene written in different iterations to show the strategies for strengthening your dialogue. It … Read More “Writing 102: Dialogue” »
When you write, conflict forms the core of the overall story and each scene. This walkthrough of strategies of techniques discusses what conflict actually is and how to talk about it in stories. What does a character want, and what prevents that? Conflict! Pacing is a huge part of conflict, since you want to balance … Read More “Writing 102: Conflict” »
Okay, I know I say below that I love point of view more than anything, but really, dramatic structure tops the list. In this illustrated walkthrough of the main dramatic structures available to people, I explain how almost everything in Western literature is some variation of the 3 Act Structure, talk about how the dramatic … Read More “Writing 101: Dramatic Structure” »
Exposition is a powerful tool in writing, but done poorly, it leads to infodumps and extremely boring writing. In this fun, engaging demonstration of how infodumps can be salvaged, I walk through different steps you can take to avoid and fix infodumps, and what you should do to strengthen your exposition even if you start out … Read More “Writing 101: Exposition” »
