After listening to a speaker tout the merits of character growth, I pondered its importance in a short story. I published quite a few stories before realizing I hadn’t considered whether any of my characters actually “grew” or not. I puzzled over my working cadre of short stories and asked myself if any of those…
Plotter. Pantser. Is your writing style ingrained? Can you change it? I’ve wrestled with this question since the beginning of my career, and I know several other authors who’ve had the same struggle. I started out as a pantser (which I prefer to call “writing into the mist” or intuitive writing) mostly because I didn’t…
A common misconception about chaos is that it’s chaotic, meaning the object in question is out of control, disorganized, irretrievably confused. Every writer has been there—the letters swim on the page like aimless tadpoles, every word you’ve written screams “YOU SUCK!” You get the drift. But, despair not! It turns out “chaos,” as used in…
I’ve touted the Scriptnotes podcast before. Yes, it’s focused on screenwriting. (I do not write screenplays.) But I enjoy listening to John August and Craig Mazin talk about stories, storytelling, and all things related. A recent episode (#501) was titled “Patterns of Success.” John and Craig talked about a variety of factors and traits and…
Last month, my wife and I closed on our new home in the village of Cedaredge on the wild Western Slope of Colorado. It’s a beautiful place with mature landscaping and spectacular views. Deer pass by, birds fill the trees, and the tumbling waters of Surface Creek flow just down the slope from our backyard….