Some books should stand alone. Once the story has been told, to revisit the characters would rob the narrative of the depth of meaning. For such stories, sequels spoil them by diluting what made the first one great. A good … Continue reading Some books should not have sequels
One of the worst pieces of advice I have ever received was this – write what you know. Balderdash! How would fantasy, science fiction, and alternative histories get written if people stuck only to the things they knew? The better … Continue reading You start with what you know; not stick to it
The number of times I see requests for alternatives to “said” in forums, you’d be forgiven for thinking there was something wrong with the word. It is easy to see where the idea that using said “too much” is bad … Continue reading Is “said” really so bad?
They say that a picture speaks a thousand words or so they tell me. It certainly seems to be true of blog posts. They seem incompleate without at least one image to illustrate what you are saying. When it comes … Continue reading On illustrating blog posts about writing
Let’s be honest, a lot of local libraries are little more than a money sink for many local authorities. What if there was an alternative that made your library not just a viable project but a community asset too? Here … Continue reading A different vision of the future of local libraries
How do you deal with aggressive comments and angry feedback? I write about Christianity. As a result, I deal with my fair share of confrontational comments. None of them on my blog sadly. (I would love some nice comments if you … Continue reading Dealing with aggressive comments
The Thanet Canute is a person (or group of people) that seem to have a problem with variety. This is the story of The Thanet Canute and the cybersquatting. Today is say no to bullies day. They say that in order … Continue reading The Thanet Canute cybersquats
Why is it that we writers are so prone to the thinking that we own an idea? For some reason that is lost on me, writers seem to be particularly prone to worrying about people stealing their ideas. There may be … Continue reading You can’t own an idea
What makes a good writer? Specifically, what does it take to make you a good writer? This post is inspired by Thanet Writer and author, Matthew Munson’s blog post. I took his main points and examined them one by one to … Continue reading What makes you a good writer?