In the first part of MacGuffin or Grail, I suggested a set of criteria for judging whether your particular plot device was one or the other. Having given my protagonists in THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER a panoply of grails, my question … Continue reading
According to Webster’s dictionary, a MacGuffin (McGuffin or maguffin, as you prefer) is: ”an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance.” (emphasis mine) … Continue reading
Part 1 is entitled The Name of the Prose, Part 1: Naming Characters and Novels I shall cheerfully post the link for Part 2 when it drops. And if you want to see how I put my advice into action, … Continue reading
Back when we released the first of our Shadow Conspiracy anthologies, we ran a spoof April Fool’s Day sendup, Zombie View News. It included a blurb about my genesis story, “The Accumulating Man” . It read, in part: “I have … Continue reading
”Crime doesn’t pay…enough” is the motto of Mystery Writers of America (MWA), an organization I joined after the publication of my debut mystery-adventure novel, THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER (from Pegasus Crime). The first thing I discovered about MWA was that it … Continue reading
I’ve got a writing exercise for ya.’ I’m hopeful it will put ideas into your head. It requires reverse engineering something, in this case, greeting cards. Those new any occasion cards with blank interiors are the best for this. Here’s … Continue reading
Superheroes! Steampunk! High-stakes adventure! Cool characters fighting implacable enemies for the fate of the world while they’re battling their own demons! If you like any or all of those things in your reading, Archangel: Ascensionhas it all. I was very … Continue reading
Dutifully and cheerfully answering the call from Mystery Writers of America (NorCal Chapter) I will be among the authors signing and chatting at the Grand Opening of the brand new and very shiny Barnes & Noble at The Veranda shopping … Continue reading
My first novel was also my first experience trying to create a fantasy world from the ground up. With Tolkien as my only model, I waded hip deep into Scottish history and Auld English linguistics to come up with character, clan, place and object names for my fantasy trilogy, The Mer Cycle.
Here’s what I learned: whatever names I use, it pays to simplify their spelling wherever possible.
Continue readingA sense of place plays a critical role in determining whether a reader “gets into” a story or not. Good place names can lend an aura of reality to even the most fictional of places. Conversely, an obviously made up place name in a story that pretends at reality can make a location that seems perfectly real to the author seem perfectly ridiculous to the reader.
Continue reading
