I have been a fan of Heinlein’s for more than forty years. When he was alive, I watched constantly for his next publication, and I have read nearly everything he has written and a great deal of what has been written about his work. Learning only recently that there was an official biography about him…
foundations for a writing office I’ve been tweeting about the lovely little getaway house my husband and I have been building for the last three months. I am pleased it’s coming along, but what I really care about and am excited about is my office. Sure the house is going to have bedrooms, a living…
Live in a dome; artistic flare w/off-Earth life I love this idea: terraforming with a shell or dome to hold the atmosphere in and generate heat. That makes use of local planets like Mars, Venus, and various moons as liveable space very doable. Miriam Kramer’s article “Incredible Technology: How to Use a ‘Shell’ to Terraform…
John Steinbeck wrote for and about the guy next door, the man that works to pay the bills at the end of the month, for the poor cuss who hopes and hopes even when hope is lost, and loses and loses, even when he wins. Tortilla Flat He moved slowly and cautiously. Now and…
start with something & keep writing What better post to discuss beginnings on than In the beginning…. Where to start the story? Start with any word that comes to mind — the beginning is just that: a place to start. a character talking to another character the character talking to the reader the character talking…
The Coming of Age format is often used for YA novels because the main character is often a young character, usually on the verge of coming to terms with the difficult realities of life. It is also not unusual for the main character to be an adult, one with a rather innocent view of life. …
Regional stories are wrapped around the cultural, traditional, and environmental qualities of the area. Often dialect is a feature, but not a requirement. So work on a few paragraphs of a story that can only happen where you are. Make it utterly dependent on the locale, can’t happen anywhere else but there. Read Faulkner’s “Barn…
Fame & Fortune, but at what cost? Using a tried and true narrative mode to set up a story, as mentioned in last week’s post, is quite useful. The Faust Legend is another popular format. If you are familiar with the old movie Oh God, then you have seen it used in the more modern…
