When to Outline and Why

When it comes to outlines, there are lots of ways to tackle it. You've got story structure, skeletal narratives, beat sheets, breakdowns of scenes and plots and arcs and this and that. Depending on how you do them, outlines can be a lot of work with what you choose to include in them. I don't usually …

Amazing

I recently worked in a local factory on a line. It was repetitive grueling physical work, and it made me appreciate writing all the more. Writing is such a special thing, a blessing of life and consciousness. The ability to communicate through symbolic designs agreed upon by a mutual understanding of people... ...not only that …

Perfection

One word at a time. Such is how a writer's quest for perfection exhausts imagination. The craft of writing is subject to overthinking. Analysis of prose can be useful, yet when it becomes the dominant priority, the heart of a story perishes. With loss of heart follows loss of passion. Excessive editing, obsession with grammar …

phantasmagoria

I've never known normal. The life I've been granted is a strange existence. The bizarre is my ordinary. Eccentricity feeds my craft, not for sensationalism, but because it is my natural state of being. The odd and unusual is where the fantastic resides. Investigations into absurdities of life serve a purpose for the development of …

Writing isn’t Torture

ATTN. WRITERS: The act of writing isn't miserable. It doesn't suck. It isn't a burden and it isn't torture. Writing is not a punishment. You are not a victim of writing. Writing is a choice, no matter the reasoning that leads to that choice, it still remains a voluntary act - a luxury of time …

Maintaining Focus while Remaining Open

When it comes to writing, no matter where you are in terms of skill or talent, it's important to keep focused on your own goals while also keeping yourself open to new ideas, techniques, and attitudes. It is a personal balance between application of knowledge and individual direction. Discernment is a powerful tool for an …

CC: PulpRev Writers

This is a quick and messy post I wanted to throw out before getting back to work on my books today. It pertains to PulpRev as a community of growing writers, artists, and authors and is meant for those involved in it. Something I enjoy about PulpRev is the clash of ideas that occurs between …

I Lost My First NaNoWriMo After Four Years

Where did I go wrong? Did I set my goal too high? Was 175,000 words in 30 days too much? No. I lost for multiple reasons, but the goal word count was not the reason why. My final word count was around 69,000 words for the month, the majority of which completed in the first …

In Your Character’s Mind

For authors, the practice of delving into the thoughts, feelings, and processes of our characters is extremely important. The depth of this process for each character is dictated by the level of focus a story maintains on the particular character. NPC-types don't need much, if any, exploration into the internal except for a lark. Protagonists …

Do Your Characters Control You?

As a creator of unique fictional worlds, it is important to remember that YOU are the one who controls canon over the setting, the plot, and the characters. Writers flirt with giving characters "consciousnesses" and talking about fictional worlds as if they exist outside of themselves. There are a few reasons for this. One of which is …