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Character, Plot, or Setting—Which Comes First?
Today’s question is about whether story-writers think about characters, plot, or setting when they first conceive the idea for a story. If you’ve written fiction, or thought about doing so, which did...
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Why You’ll Love the Snowflake, Too
The snowflake I’m blogging about today doesn’t have much to do with winter weather, but instead a writing method developed by author Dr. Randy Ingermanson. I won’t go through his method here, since he...
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Sorry, New Rule. You Can’t Do That!
In the original Star Trek TV series, there’s an episode where Captain Kirk invents a card game called Fizzbin in which he makes up the rules as he goes along. The comic strip Calvin and Hobbes...
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Giving and Receiving…Critiques
‘Tis the season for giving and receiving, so I thought I’d discuss critiques of fiction manuscripts. Last time I did so, I said I’d let you know how to give and receive critiques. My experience is...
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Details,Details…
When I said I’d blog about choosing details wisely in writing fiction, I meant it; I just didn’t say how soon I’d get around to it! Writers often have to describe scenes, characters, or objects in...
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How to Assemble a Planet
Oh, did you really think you could surf to this blog entry and learn how to design and construct an entire planet? Well, okay, you were right. So long as you’re expecting a how-to about fictional...
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15 Writing Virtues
Many people believe you aren’t just stuck with the way you are now, that you can better yourself by persistent act of will. I’m one of them, but let me just focus on self-help as it applies to the...
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Readers on My Mind
Just a few thoughts today about the relationship between writers like you and the readers you aim to delight. Much of this will sound simplistic, but if you hang with me, perhaps we’ll both learn...
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Life is But a Theme
Long-time readers of this blog have noted that I’ve explored four of the five components of fiction—character, plot, setting, and style. There’s been quite a clamoring for me to complete the set, and...
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Fiction Elements by Genre
In earlier posts I’ve blogged about the various elements of fiction (Character, Plot, Setting, Theme, and Style). I’ve also blogged a bit about the various genres of fiction. Here I thought I’d explore...
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Using the 15 Fiction-Writing Virtues
In a previous blog post, I explored how Benjamin Franklin, an early champion of self-help, might advise us on how to improve our writing. To recall, Ben identified weaknesses in his own character and...
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4 Rules for Assembling a Planet
Millions of my fans well remember when I first posted back on February 24, 2013 about assembling a planet. That seminal blog post dominated the news and captivated the world (our world, the real Earth,...
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Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
My stories are set in lots of places. I finally mapped all of them to date. Some anthologies and magazines ask writers to come up with a brief author biography. In my bios, I often state, “I take...
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Welcome Aboard the Nautilus
The submarine in Jules Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is one of the most amazing settings in all of literature. Let’s explore it. Before we do, I’ll invite you to write and...
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Depicting Monarchies in Fiction
Do you love stories involving queens and kings, thrones and castles, nobles and knights? Would you like to live under such a government? Really? An interesting Twitter thread inspired this blogpost....
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12 Purposes of Food in Stories
Real-life humans (you and me, for example) eat food to convert it to energy and use that to grow and move. Fictional characters get along just fine without food. Why, then, do we often read entire...
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