Several of the posts you’ve been seeing in recent weeks, and several in weeks to come, are prompted or inspired by the time I spent with Booth’s indispensable text. That’s not a word I select lightly.
Saving Your Darlings
To kill your darlings means, during the revision process, to take a hard look at the parts of the story you're particularly passionate about, but which may not serve the overall plot/character/story, and cut them.
Tastes of the Cosmos Release Post and Author’s Note
This is a story which has been told before. My twist on it, if there is a twist to be found, is to present it (mostly) from an alien perspective.
Reference Frames
An appropriate choice of reference frame will make things far simpler, while a poor choice of reference frame can make the situation dramatically more complicated.
My Niche?
These are stories that aren’t historical fiction, are not set on Earth, but are set in a world very analogous to Earth, with strong inspirations from real history, and with “fantastic” elements which are…I want to say subtle, but that’s not quite right. Tightly integrated might suffice.
Intimacy and the Unreliable Narrator
Just as real people are inevitably tinted by biases, experiences, backgrounds, opinions, and perspectives, the notional storytellers of our writing are bound by the same tendencies.
Terror of Age Release Post and Author’s Note
There's some regicide, a stolen magic sword, and some flashy sympathy magic, but mostly this is a story about an immortal witch and the way she traps herself in her own mind with the terrors and regrets of centuries of living in the world.
Real Fiction
If reflecting reality were the ultimate goal of art, I should sell all my mirrors at an art auction, make a few hundred million dollars off about fifty dollars in glass and metal foil, and retire as a world-famous artist.
Progress and Revisions
I am now being deliberate about developing and implementing the rhetoric I want to see - rather than treating it like an unchanging operating system I can only affect indirectly, I am treating it like an application I can custom-code to my specifications.
Intergalactic Update 2025
I am seeking and stumbling my way towards my own writing paradigm, with its own pace, its own conventions, and its own niche, a niche that includes you. Through more writing, more reading, and more thinking, I hope you'll continue to explore all regions of space and time with me in the year to come.
