The emotions of your narrator, your POV, is something you have to be conscious about.
Tag: creative writing
World Building and the Samurai Novel
The really hard part about writing a samurai novel in English is that you must remain within the historical context of what you are writing, yet not spend too much time explaining. Most Western readers have a much clearer image of what a Victorian tea party is than what a Japanese tea ceremony is. So, … Continue reading World Building and the Samurai Novel
Am I a Genre Writer?
It seems that there is not a professional writer out there who is not yet tired of the question "Am I a writer?" or "How do I know I am a writer?" So much so that I felt compelled to answer the question myself. A more pressing question for me is, am I a genre … Continue reading Am I a Genre Writer?
The Four Act Plot Structure
Everyone talks about the Three Act Plot Structure. But have you ever heard about the Four Act Structure? It is the basic structure of classic Chinese poetry, and in places like Japan (probably Korea and China as well) students are encouraged to write all stories and essays based on this structure. The Four Act Structure … Continue reading The Four Act Plot Structure
The Bechdel Test
Now known as the Bechdel-Wallace test, it is a test to measure the level of gender enlightenment in any given script or manuscript. It has three criteria. 1) The story must have at least two women in it who 2) talk to each other about 3) something other than men. Needless to say, most Hollywood … Continue reading The Bechdel Test
World Building
World building is about the emotions evoked by the places, things, events and characters.
Blake Snyder Beat Sheet
And now that I have mentioned Blake Snyder, I am obligated to mention "Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet" or "BS2". Blake Snyder was a Hollywood script writer who suddenly died at age 51, one year younger than I am now. In his instructional book on screen writing Save the Cat he proposes a plotting plan based … Continue reading Blake Snyder Beat Sheet
The Inadequate Writer
I would first like to offer my sincere congratulations to Stephanie Feldman on the publication of her first novel The Angel of Losses. She spent more than a decade struggling to write and her third book has finally been accepted for publication. She recently wrote and excellent article about her experience as an unpublished author titled Failing … Continue reading The Inadequate Writer
Finding Your Own Voice
Peter Sellers, best known for his contribution to Blake Edwards movies like The Pink Panther, appeared as a guest on the Muppet Show one time. He was discovered in the dressing room in the process of trying to disguise as Queen Victoria. The disguise was, quite hilariously, not going well. "Don't worry," said a muppet, … Continue reading Finding Your Own Voice
Will Pot Change Literature?
Robert Louis Stevenson used cocaine. Charles Baudelaire used hashish. Jean Cocteau used opium. Jean-Paul Sartre used amphetamines. Philip K. Dick used speed. Aldous Huxley used mushrooms. Hunter S. Thompson used mescaline along with the usual stuff like LSD and pot. William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, Stephen King, Thomas de Quincey, Hubert Selby, William Yeats, the list goes on. As if … Continue reading Will Pot Change Literature?
Samurai Novelist 