Browsing all articles tagged with plotting.
The Pros and Cons of a Macro Timescale
Most fantasy and science fiction series tend to be, by their very nature, large in scope. We expect stories about the fate of worlds, the rise and fall of empires, and history in the making. A book might still focus on a character’s personal, small-scale struggle, but it’s rare the focus will only be on […]
Tabletop Tuesday: Player Characters Keep It Interesting
Not long ago, I wrote about how important it is to be able to improvise when running a tabletop roleplaying game, whether the genre is fantasy, sci-fi, or something altogether different. This is because players are, above all, mad creatures who do not listen to either reason or instructions. If there is room in your […]
Plotting – What Happens Next?
“What happens next” is a question that has the power to freeze a writer’s hand over the keyboard, paralysing them with potential issues. Which route should your characters take? How would they respond to story events? Does it make sense? Does it slow the pace? Does it feel right? Creating a coherent and successful plot […]
Is Fantasy for Gardeners?
At some convention in the distant past on some panel about something or other, someone once asked me whether I was an architect or a gardener. I had really no idea what they were talking about but replied that, as a physicist and an engineer, I was probably more of an architect with everything laid […]
Writing Multi-Layered Narratives
Ideas Are Easy There’s a joke about writers: never ask them where they get their ideas from. The question might be met with a roll of the eyes, and the answers you get are often tongue-in-cheek (a PO Box in Poughkeepsie is a classic). The reason for this is pretty straightforward – it’s exactly the […]
Plot Holes and How to Fix Them
whWhatever kind of fantasy you’re writing, sooner or later you’re going to come up against the dreaded issue that can bring your whole book to a screeching halt. That is – the plot hole. So what can you do about it? Plot holes are tricky beasts and can come in many different forms. Mostly, when […]
What Photography Teaches Us About Writing
Before a photographer takes a photo, a lot of considerations run through her mind: composition, metering, white balance, light sensitivity, aperture size. She does this because she knows it will make a better photo – more than that, it will make a photo that says something, that conveys a message or a mood to the […]
I Hate Info-Dumps
You’ve all thought it, haven’t you? Come on, be honest. You’ve had that heart sinking moment when you are reading a book and a new character appears in the narrative and… She crashed through the window. Shards of glass and splinters of wood scattered across the floor of the Dog and Duck Inn. The customers […]
How To Liven Up Your Story
Character A goes to location B, takes action C, and achieves event D. This sentence might have the minimal elements of a plot but it’s not a story. A story grabs you, pulls you in. A story has ups and downs, a plot that twists and turns, it has surprises and drama, it has action […]
So What’s The Fuss About Scribbleton?
One of the things we all love about great fantasy novels is the worlds they create. Indeed, for many of us, great worldbuilding is one of the major factors in measuring how much we enjoy a fantasy novel. We love a world that we can get lost in, in which we can bury ourselves in […]
Story Openings
The blank page faces you, whether it’s the page in your hand or the one on the screen, the question is always the same – how do you begin? Do you want to set the scene with a sweeping landscape, or launch into the action with a gunfight or duel? Will you ease the reader […]
So What’s The Fuss About Evernote?
Writers are always being reminded that inspiration can strike at any time. It could be during the bustle of a busy work day or in the middle of night. And just like dreams, ideas can quickly fade to a distant memory if they’re not recorded. As a result, writers are advised that they should keep […]
