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Bafflegab
Flickr Creative Commons: RA.AZ This delightful word was originally coined in the fifties to describe deliberately confusing bureaucratic jargon. Since then, science fiction writers have co-opted the...
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Politics: Inescapable, Infuriating, and a Writer’s Best Friend?
By Richard Espinoza. (Own work) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia CommonsAs of this post’s writing, Canada is in the grip of a polarizing and tight political campaign for the selection of our 42nd federal...
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Jaime Lannister and Sympathetic Monsters: A look at a Master
“Come for the incest, stay for the dragons.” – Seth Meyers on Game of Thrones photo courtesy HBO The second time we see Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones, he shoves ten-year-old Bran Stark out a...
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The Benefits of Fan Fiction
Photo by Flickr user Ryan Ruppe Over the last eight or nine months, I’ve spent a lot of time teaching creative writing to children. When I started, I found it a little frustrating that no matter what...
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How to Rock an Anecdotal Opening
photo adapted / Horia Varlan Effective opening scenes orient your reader to a story’s core conflict while raising pertinent questions about the plot to come. Most often, we writers achieve this through...
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The Extraordinary World: How Soon and How Little?
Two months ago here on WU, I examined the concept of the “ordinary world”, familiar from the plot template of the Hero’s Journey, the early story phase in which the normal state of things is...
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First Look: WU UnConference Session Descriptions
The Writer Unboxed UnConference If you’ve been eager to learn more about the sessions and workshops we’ll have at this year’s Writer Unboxed UnConference (in Salem, MA, 11/4-11/8), this is the post for...
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The Story Beyond the Story
A commercial airline pilot recently described how his job gave him a sense of how large the world really is. He would leave his home in London and drive to the airport among hundreds of other motorists...
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Un-Con Redux Part III: World Building for Non-SFF Writers
Third of three posts recreating workshops you may have missed at Un-Con 2019. What shaped you into the person you are today? Your experiences, certainly, but I’m talking about your foundation, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Benefits of Fan Fiction
Photo by Flickr user Ryan Ruppe Over the last eight or nine months, I’ve spent a lot of time teaching creative writing to children. When I started, I found it a little frustrating that no matter what...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Rock an Anecdotal Opening
photo adapted / Horia Varlan Effective opening scenes orient your reader to a story’s core conflict while raising pertinent questions about the plot to come. Most often, we writers achieve this through...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Extraordinary World: How Soon and How Little?
Two months ago here on WU, I examined the concept of the “ordinary world”, familiar from the plot template of the Hero’s Journey, the early story phase in which the normal state of things is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
First Look: WU UnConference Session Descriptions
The Writer Unboxed UnConference If you’ve been eager to learn more about the sessions and workshops we’ll have at this year’s Writer Unboxed UnConference (in Salem, MA, 11/4-11/8), this is the post for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Story Beyond the Story
A commercial airline pilot recently described how his job gave him a sense of how large the world really is. He would leave his home in London and drive to the airport among hundreds of other motorists...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Un-Con Redux Part III: World Building for Non-SFF Writers
Third of three posts recreating workshops you may have missed at Un-Con 2019. What shaped you into the person you are today? Your experiences, certainly, but I’m talking about your foundation, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Writing Female Characters in Historical Fantasy
Where do our female characters stand in history? As authors of fiction, are we bound to reflect their situation as it would have been in the (implied) time and culture of the story? What if that time...
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World Building Through Architecture
Photographer: Bwag Ruth recently read a mystery in which the main character was staying in a room in a large, rectangular mansion. The room was described as a small bedroom but it had windows on three...
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Politics: Inescapable, Infuriating, and a Writer’s Best Friend?
By Richard Espinoza. (Own work) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia CommonsAs of this post’s writing, Canada is in the grip of a polarizing and tight political campaign for the selection of our 42nd federal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jaime Lannister and Sympathetic Monsters: A look at a Master
“Come for the incest, stay for the dragons.” – Seth Meyers on Game of Thrones photo courtesy HBO The second time we see Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones, he shoves ten-year-old Bran Stark out a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Benefits of Fan Fiction
Photo by Flickr user Ryan Ruppe Over the last eight or nine months, I’ve spent a lot of time teaching creative writing to children. When I started, I found it a little frustrating that no matter what...
View Article