Writing Advice

by veilwar

No I don’t have any. But I have found some people who do.

Self-published author Michael Hicks has some good advice on the mechanics of being a writer, as opposed to advice on actual writing. His advice lines up tolerably well with what I’ve come up with, with the added bonus of actually having been put to use in the real world.

Why do these things always come in lists? Still, Chuck Wendig has assembled a powerful good list of 25 points on story structure. Good list, but I particularly like the accompanying graphic:

That’s my kind of chart.

Cat Volente is guest blogging at Charlie’s place, online home of author Charles Stross. Her tour still has two weeks to go, and she’s already kicked out some amazing posts. Read, and when you’re done squeeze the rind to get all the juicy goodness out.

  • Hello, My Name is the Problem of Memory – her introduction, and some interesting thoughts.
  • #shitsiskosays – ruminations on DS9 and the inexcusable lack of social media therein. Or not so inexcusable.
  • A Far Green Country – Cotton Mather, New England’s first horror writer, and thoughts about the rapture of the nerds.
  • You Are What You Love – part one of a series on writing. Includes admonitions on cliche and a mention of TV Tropes, linked here just the other day. Powerful advice and it has if not changed the course of the book, has made me reexamine some of its parts. Closely.
  • Between the Perfect and the Real – writing advice of the “Buck up, Camper” sort.

Reading this stuff makes me really want to read her stuff. That will have to wait, though – but I must admit that “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making” is a compelling title.