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I’d like to offer a smattering of “safety tips” that have come out of the mentoring and workshops I’ve done over the years. Some of these I’ve come by as the result of struggling with my own craft and some … Continue reading
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
My daughter, Kristine, reads constantly. The day I originally wrote this little essay, she was, in fact, sitting in the living room reading Lord of the Rings with a stack of history books and Jane Austen-related material next to her chair. She … Continue reading
Last time I talked about some of the responsibilities the members of a critique group or writers’ workshop had to the writer whose work they were critiquing. This time, I’d like to address the responsibilities of the writer, which go … Continue reading
There are two parties involved in critique: the critiquer and the critiquee. Okay, I just made those words up. So, let’s say there is the giver of the critique and the recipient of the critique. This is true whether the parties are … Continue reading
At a recent science fiction convention, I was on a panel about critique groups. We started by sharing horror stories. I had the singular honor of having the most horrific in the room. I once mentored a group of writers … Continue reading
In every work of fiction, characters assume different levels of importance. There are vital, primary characters (the protagonist, the antagonist), secondary characters (companions, love interests, foils), and (to use film terminology) bit players, walk-ons, and extras. One way we signal … Continue reading
One of the hardest things for some writers to learn is what goes into building a world in enough detail to engage the reader’s willing suspension of disbelief. This is especially important when writing about places that no one alive … Continue reading
She’s 5’2″, gamine, and weighs ninety-four pounds in a soggy trench coat. The nickname “Tinkerbell” has followed her from high school. It’s hard to imagine her riding a Harley or packing a baby … Continue reading
More often than I’d like to tell, I see manuscripts that read as if they were written for children, regardless of who the target audience is. Partly this is the result of what the writer chooses to tell the reader, … Continue reading
The situation: Waldo appears in chapter three as a close personal friend of the protagonist. He has an epic encounter with the villain, saves the day and endears himself to a female protagonist. He then promptly disappears for the rest … Continue reading